Scars
by HoNdeR
Summary: A bullying episode on the young Naruto results in a slaughter thanks to Kyuubi's power. As the young boy fights to overcome his sadness that night, the beast within him stirs on the chance of freedom and a new journey begins, a life-changing path...
1. Chapter 1

_**Scars**_

There is emptiness in the human heart. It is an unavoidable factor that lies within every person's life and cannot be undone. Examples lie in childhood fears that haunt one for his whole life. It is evident in the fact that some people hate spiders, bugs, are fearful of water or of the darkness, cannot stand blood or even hate/fear certain characteristics another human might have.

Such scars do not occur during childhood only, but may become embed on older ages as well.

It was for that reason that the Kyuubi no Yoko was feared, hated, and eventually loathed by every living being that had come in contact with the malice of its chakra during that fateful day. One would hate to see even pictures of that monster, let alone its incarnation. For that sole reason, because the human heart is too frail to accept darkness, it resents and pushes it away.

Naruto was the scapegoat. The darkness the heart of the village feared.

And whom would ever seek comfort in the darkness…?

XxxxX

"_It hurts… Damnit it hurts…!" _stones, sticks, anything that could cause harm but not kill was used to torment the young boy's body. He was hit, again, and again, and again, relentlessly, the humans around him taking pleasure in his pain, grinning like mad and yelling words of hatred.

They hit him harder.

An ANBU silently sat on a nearby rooftop, observing the situation. He could help the boy, or the people hitting him. But the child was under the Hokages' protection. And as much as he hated the boy, or rather what he held inside him, he had his duty to his leader.

It was the greatest shame to betray those that put their trust in you.

As the Anbu prepared to decent on the group of spiteful villagers, something stopped him. A glimmer of light, or rather, a shine of malevolent darkness and hate that he had felt only once before.

Abruptly halting his movements, the Anbu gazed intently among the small crowd. A radiant, reddish light was shining among the startled humans.

Fearful, the Anbu was torn with the decision he had to make. Try to stop the kid, at which action either he could save everyone or die along with them, or inform the Hokage, a much stronger and wise shinobi much better versed than him in sealing?

He didn't waste another moment as he vanished, for should he be late, the whole village would be in danger…

XxxxX

"_Why… why me…? What have I ever done…? Because I was born? Maybe they hate me for being born?" _

"_**Foolish little brat, how could anyone ever be afraid of your pathetic frame?"**_

"_Then why… why are my thoughts double? What is this voice…?_

_What… am I?" _

"_**You're a frail human, a weak child. You are nothing. And yet you dare be my jailor."**_

Amidst the pain and the darkness of his vision, Naruto's mind flashed with images. Bars, iron bars high as the tallest building, a prison.

Tall walls and a sewer like environment, where water dripped and nothing but the sound of the ripples it made to the small, muddy puddles remained.

It was an empty, hollow space.

Much like his heart.

"Who are you…?" the little boy asked as he stepped towards the cage. The malevolent creature behind the bars drew closer, staring down at the little kid. Despite the appearances, Naruto was not scared of those eyes. They seemed… familiar. Like that time that he stared at himself in a mirror.

Sadness. Rage.

Hate.

"**I… am you. The incarnation of your feelings. The darkness of your heart." **The creature bellowed and Narutos' still young mind couldn't help but be awed.

Even so the boy tumbled over in pain, clutching at his stomach. "What t…" his words couldn't even be finished as another sharp pain in the head forced screams rather than words out of his mouth.

"**They hate you. They want to kill you. They wish to steal your life, blunt your body to death! Will you let them? Will you allow them to distribute punishment they have no right over?"**the great being questioned and Narutos' pain eased for a moment as he concentrated away from the outward blows.

His breathing was labored. Tears filled his eyes. "Why? What have I done…? Why do they hate me…?" the creature behind the bars smirked, a large, fanged grin. It's eyes glistened with joy.

"**Here, boy, take this power. Take it and butcher them! Slay all those that did you wrong! Avenge yourself… Avenge me!" **red mist seeped out of the cage and encircled the young lad, who, kneeling to the ground in agony and sadness, couldn't care less.

"All I ever wanted…" memories of his time in the orphanage, the stares of the adults, the bullying of the children, the beatings, the starvation, the pain, it all shot within his mind as he was enveloped in the strange power.

"Was for someone to love me…"

XxxxX

"What… what is this?" one of the villagers, an old man with a white beard framing his face, questioned as he stepped away, the broken, edgy bottled falling from his hand in disbelief. His companions were also frozen in fear as the sight before them overwhelmed them.

Naruto slowly rose, the bruises and the cuts that were inflicted on him closing rapidly. The cloak of red energy around his body was but a mist, but it gave off the feelings of hatred the boys' heart bore.

Deep crimson eyes rose to meet the terrified crowd. Sharp claws extended and leg muscles tensed, ready for the pounce.

"R… RUN!" One of the many yelled, but it was to little avail.

Naruto would give no room for running.

XxxxX

When the ANBU arrived at the scene again, his heart fell, hitting rock bottom, as he realized that he was indeed too late.

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the scene with barely contained sadness. Not only for the loss of life, but also for the loss of Naruto's innocence, if he was indeed the proprietor of this atrocity.

Blood, limbs, and guts were sprayed all over the area. The Hokage, having taken part in shinobi wars, was less affected from such a scene than the ANBU was. There where whole battlefields that once looked like this. He had done his share of vomiting.

What worried Sarutobi above all was the expressions of pure horror that where written on the faces of any head that was still intact with the body. He dared not jump down there, less he involuntarily stepped on someone, or someone's organs.

In a corner where the carnage was lighter, Sarutobi saw a shadow twitch. A vain hope ignited within him that it would be Naruto, lost and maybe unconscious. As he neared with the Anbu in tow, he was secretly disappointed.

"What happened here? Please, we need to find him before it's too late!" He urged but the villager was still going through a phase of shock.

"The Hokage asked you something! Answer!" the Anbu, agitated and unnerved, snapped, scaring the fellow. Sarutobi motioned him to sit back.

After a few more moments, the man found his voice again.

"We… we were just passing by when he suddenly… he attacked us, killed everybody, gutted them, tore them apart, nothing left… nothing left…" Sarutobi was more than sure that these people had been abusing Naruto again. This man would answer to a trial and at worse spend a month in jail.

But what would be of Naruto?

Had Sarutobi miscalculated? Had he been too naïve to the childs' pain?

"Take this man to Ibiki. Make sure he speaks the truth before imprisoning him." The villager, still in his own revere, didn't hear any of this. The Anbu nodded, not looking behind him, as he helped the man rise and half-carried him away.

Meanwhile, the Hokage turned the other way, where he could still feel the remnants of Kyuubi's chakra. Sighing one last time in sadness and disbelief, he run off following that one small trail.

XxxxX

He ran. That was one of the few things he was best at in this age. There were many times that he had to run, hide, escape. Tears fell from his eyes and his breathing was labored, but he still ran.

"I did all these? Those corpses… those people… God… God… no… aww…" more tears, sobs, hiccups, pain. His legs hurt, his eyes stung, his heart ached.

He had just killed somebody. Or rather, a whole group of people.

The voice within him sounded delighted.

"**Here, boy, take more, take more of my power. It will make the pain, the sadness go away. It will wash over all of your worries…" **Naruto, being still young and naïve, trusted in that voice. When he had taken that power earlier he didn't feel any pain. But when it faded tears began to drop.

He wanted that power.

Soon he was again enveloped in red mist and sure enough, all the sadness that he was feeling began to fade like a bad dream. Primal instincts took over and his senses sharpened. Smells became far stronger and his sight could see the night as if it was daylight. His hearing also strengthened and footsteps could be heard. Rapid footsteps. The world around him was rapidly changing along with his empowered body.

Naruto turned around to face his assailant, murderous intent in his glare.

Sarutobi landed a few meters away from the boy, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"Naruto…?" he questioned, as if testing, and sure enough the boy's heart complied to the familiar warm voice. His posture softened. The boy looked down at his hands, seeing their clawed form. Tears welled in his eyes.

"What have I done…?" he whispered to himself. Sarutobi stepped forward.

Naruto's eyes, filled with tears, shot up to gaze at the old man.

"No… no… stay away! Jii-san, stay away!" he yelled and rushed to escape. In a vain attempt to grasp him Hiruzen extended one hand in the air, yet his words of halt died in his throat.

Naruto was moving away at a very high speed. Cursing himself one more time for being naïve, he rushed forward to the boy.

XxxxX

No more sunlight streamed from the heavens and all Sarutobi could rely on to track the boy down was instinct, experience, and a whole lot of luck. The Kyuubi's presence in Naruto's chakra had weakened and he couldn't feel the malice anymore, but he knew that should something agitate the boy and further, there would be large, tailed problems rampaging.

Naruto took wild turns as if demons from hell where after his soul. Which wasn't very far from the truth, though the demon was inside him.

He didn't feel tired in the slightest and he himself, at some sane point, was amazed at the speed his feet carried him. He always thought himself to be slow, having seen how fast real shinobi could be.

He was still six years old. Not even in the academy.

Deciding on yet another turn, he found himself within an alley that was supposed to be a dead end. The wall seemed as high as a mountain and in a childish attempt to defy logic he jumped, trying to overcome it. He succeeded.

With his body boosted by the demonic chakra Naruto jumped even higher than the wall, finding himself stumbling on the other side, not having expected this result himself. He looked at his clawed hands in disbelief, not believing that this body was his. Shaking his head, he pressed on.

Lights were beginning to pop up around him. Konoha's night life wasn't a very active one but many men would be going out drinking and many shinobi would patrol at that time. He couldn't be spotted. Not in this form.

"Monster… that's what they'll call me…" he whispered to himself as his chest tightened. He himself found their words to be true at this moment. Clawed hands, monstrous strength…

Murder…

As if a defense mechanism had activated the thoughts of what had transpired half an hour ago vanished from his mind. He didn't try to recollect.

Continuing through dark alleys, Naruto abruptly halted as he came to see the back of a man. He was tall, but then again, every adult looked tall to him, and his attire was black and dark blue. He didn't wear the same vest most shinobi of Konoha did and that troubled the kid. Was he a foreigner? But then again he could belong to a special team.

That's when Naruto noticed something that made his breath catch in his throat. The man was hauling what seemed to be a body. The body of a girl.

Cautiously the ninja looked around and continued on his run, careful not to be spotted.

Naruto, with eyes glimmering a murderous red in the darkness, followed after the man, like a demon after his prey…

XxxxX

"_Damn it! I'm lost again! Where the fuck was the exit anyhow?" _ he thought as he kept peaking at the streets through the darkness. The girl squirmed. He tightened his hold and she gasped for breath. He stopped, seeing that the annoying kid was shut up.

"_I swear they sent me on a suicide mission. For the good of my country and all that shit! Yeah, just great, like a measly one thousand yen are enough for what I'm doing…" _He didn't like kidnapping kids. In all actuality, he loved kids. But it was the harsh reality that forced him to be a professional, and do his job. And that was, to obey his orders.

A growl erupted from behind him and he turned wildly, scared but still sure that it was just a wild dog.

Then again, he thought, wild dogs don't have bright red eyes and look like they are about to murder you.

Most of the time.

"_It's… like that time…" _There was once, a few years past, that a man had secretly tried, and nearly succeeded, in killing him. Naruto was placed within a bag and tied shut, then thrown into the river. All that saved him that day was a small pocket knife he had found in the trash.

"_No more… I can't stand these people… no more…" _His mind was raging as he saw a piece of himself in the predicament of that kid.

"_**Kill him then… murder him… for all the pain that you went through… MURDER HIM!" **_the beast roared in his mind and all coherent thought went blank as Naruto leapt from the shadows towards the man. The shinobi, already expectant of the charge, jumped away to avoid the attack. For only a split second, the time it took for Naruto to land and turn to look at him, the man could clearly see now the boy's eyes.

Red eyes with slit irises, fangs and deep black whisker marks, claws and a seething aura of hatred. The freeze he experienced due to his surprise and terror was what ended his life.

Naruto didn't waste a moment to charge again and, with a clawed hand, to decapitate the man in one swift strike. Which part was decapitated and how exactly the man died Naruto never remembered. It was too much of a shock for his young soul to take.

Breathing heavily, Naruto dropped to his knees. What had he done? What was he doing? What was happening to him? What was this shit…? All this shit… all his life… just one big piece of nothing.

His hands were stained with blood. A child's hands.

A movement stimulated his senses and he was immediately on feral alert again, instinct taking over emotional and rational thought. The bag the man was holding on was squirming.

Carefully, Naruto closed in, growling lowly in alarm. With one claw he cut the ropes and the bag opened.

A small girl with white eyes the color of the moon and a round unblemished face stared at him for a long time. Her hair, short and dark blue in color, waved around her as she shifted in the bag in a more comfortable position. She looked enchanted by something, and Naruto couldn't understand what that could be.

He had dropped his offensive posture and took a more calm approach to the girl. He had nearly forgotten how his body looked at the moment.

"… Kimi no nome…" Naruto froze. His eyes…? The girl reached out one small hand and stroked his cheek with affection. Naruto's heart jumped and all anger dissipated like vapor. No one had ever touched him gently…

"Kire… your eyes are a very pretty red!" she said with a sweet smile and the boy's heart stopped. Was she… complementing him…? He didn't know how to feel, how to react about it. No one had ever complemented him. Hell, no one had ever touched him. Only hit him.

Even the beast in the cage seemed to be calmer. His hateful aura had dissipated.

"_**This isn't good… I merged my senses too much with the boy's. I'm getting affected by the girl too." **_Kyuubi thought but, even though he said that, he didn't either want to stir away from that warmth. It was a silent, warm satisfaction that bloodlust and gore didn't tend to give him. It was a nice change.

Naruto smiled slightly himself.

"How… how can you say that… after all I've done…" the girl didn't seem to listen to him and kept staring at his eyes with a small smile. She slowly got out of the bag, neatly sat down on her knees and kept stroking his cheek while looking at him.

Naruto was enchanted by the touch. It was something that he had missed his entire life.

The girl didn't seem to mean anything deeper than simple enjoyment over the contact. His whisker-scars were slightly uneven with the skin and it was fun to touch them, while his eyes shone, even in the darkness, a brilliant red color that she found pleasant to watch.

She'd never seen someone with red eyes anyhow. She was kind of jealous.

"How did your eyes become red? Did you cry a lot?" she asked with innocent curiosity. Naruto was taken aback for a moment. His heart clenched, remembering all the moments that he felt lonely, that he just wished that someone would just come and hold him, tell him that it was alright. At least, that's what he had seen other people do to someone who cried.

But no one ever came. No matter how much he cried.

"Nah! I'm a man, so I shouldn't cry! At least, that's what jii-san told me… to be strong! Heh!" he grinned widely and the girl smiled back warmly. But then her face turned in an expression of worry.

She could see tears well up at the edge of his eyes. She pouted her lips out. Naruto looked at her questioningly, not aware of his condition.

"Do you… Do you feel sad right now?" she questioned and Naruto decided to put on a brave face once again, if only to thank her for her kindness. He had completely forgotten even why he was there in the first place.

"I'm okay! I've always been alone, so don't worry about me!" he grinned, thinking that he said something clever and would appease her. Sadly, her worry only seemed to grow.

"But… isn't being alone… sad?" she looked up at him questioningly and reached out one small hand to touch his cheek, a gesture she was getting familiar with, and which Naruto still enjoyed.

Her words stirred within him and an emotion of loneliness overtook him. All the times that he had to sit in a corner and watch the other kids play, the way everyone avoided him, the vanished meaning of his existence…

Naruto then became the child he was… and tears streamed down his eyes.

The girl knew only one way, taught from her mother, to make someone who was crying feel better. In all the innocence that the gesture could imply, she pulled Naruto in and hugged him tightly, while he cried for the first time in a long while on her shoulder. She stroke his back and soothed him, while Naruto let the dam of his feelings open and they all rushed out in the form of tears and sobs, at the same time relishing the feeling of what people called a 'hug'.

It was so nice… to feel another person close to you. Their warmth, their kindness…

He would cherish this moment for the rest of his life, he knew.

Sarutobi had caught up a while ago but decided to not intervene. It was such a rare chance for Naruto to finally communicate with one of his age, a Hyuuga no less! He had quickly concealed the dead body with a minor genjutsu, as for the children to not be disturbed by it. What interested him most though, was that the little girl had appeased his rampage.

Maybe Hiruzen was right. Maybe all that this hateful aura and rage was for was a child's broken heart, the need for human communication and the pain of being deprived of it. Naruto was no mindless killing machine, he was a hurt kid.

And all it took was one warm hug to fix it all. It was also the first time that Hiruzen saw the boy genuinely cry.

He could hear rumble and shouts behind him. Villagers? It couldn't be his Anbu, for above all else, the Anbu where shadows, silent. From the direction the ruckus came from, Hiruzen concluded that they were probably Hyuugas, hasting to apprehend the kidnapper. One of them landed beside him.

"What are you doing here, Hokage-sama?" Sarutobi rose a finger in motion for the man to silence. The man, being a Hyuuga, didn't need to even turn his head to look at the direction the Hokage was looking at, yet he did so out of habit anyway.

He squinted, but then again, barging in against the Hokage's wish was considered rude, and he didn't deem any immediate danger.

"What is my daughter doing down there?" he didn't need to ask for the kidnapper. He could see the corpse easily, through the weak genjutsu.

"Relax, Hiashi. Your daughter is in no danger, I assure you of that." He soothed him and continued to observe the children. A nostalgic look crossed his features.

"I can feel demonic energy pulsing from the boy but… it's calm. Was that over there his deed?" he asked, not peeling his eyes off the duo.

The Hokage nodded, taking his pipe seemingly out of nowhere and lighting it. He inhaled greedily. As he exhaled, Hiashi spared him a moment's glance.

"Naruto's life up until now was sad and brutal. Just an hour ago he murdered a group of villagers in self-defense. Kyuubi's power helped him." He took the pipe out of his mouth and held it in one hand.

"Then what are you doing here?" Hiashi asked with some tremble in his voice. So… the corpses he had seen on the edge of his Byakugan where this child's doing…?

"As you many have noticed, he didn't harm your daughter. His rage wasn't irrational, nor random. While grievous it is what he did, I cannot bring him to court or judge him." Sarutobi bent down, making himself comfortable on the rooftop. Hiashi's eyes could always keep watch, while he concentrated on the discussion at hand. Why should he let Naruto live?

"The men that attacked him violated the Yondaime's last wish and an S-rank secret, by yelling the words 'demon' and 'monster' all the time around the boy. Normally I should have executed them myself."

"We both know that you'd never do that. You love this village and it's people too much." Hiashi countered and Hiruzen sighed. It was true.

"Indeed. That is why I hope that my next judgment won't prove false. I sincerely hope that one day this village will view him as what he really is. A human." He took another breath of his pipe. Hiashi glanced at him again.

"I doubt you yourself will have that opinion for much longer, Hokage-sama." Sarutobi looked at Hiashi questioningly. The Hyuuga had to remind himself at times that not all people could see chakra systems.

"It seems that Kyuubi keeps seeping chakra into the boy. In a matter of hours Naruto's chakra will be completely replaced by the demonic one. He's own reserves are too weak to keep such latent energies at bay." Now the Hokage's face grew a little paler.

"What do you think will happen?" he asked, worried. Hiashi sighed.

"There are multiple options. My best guess is that the boy's body won't hold out, and he'll die, taking the demon with him to eternity. The other most likely option is that the seal will help Naruto's body adapt. But some of his features won't change. The kitsune's power affects him physically as well. Those claws and red eyes will probably stay with him forever."

"Why don't you simply go down there and seal the chakra paths off? Won't that keep him a normal human?"

"It is a risk to do so. I could try to cut off the red chakra and it could blow up in my face. It's much more volatile right now due to the transition. If, by any chance, it was seeping more rapidly and was already exploding around the boy, it would be easier to contain it, considering I get close. If it was less it wouldn't matter." Hiashi's eyes squinted.

"Yet, Hokage-sama, it seems that the Kyuubi and Naruto are more like merging rather than the red chakra devouring the human one. I can feel no hatred… it's as if the demon himself wants to lose itself into the boy." Hiruzen took another long breath.

"What will happen when they merge? This was not supposed to happen due to the seal." He pointed out. Hiashi nodded.

"Indeed. But with both of them willing, after this is over the seal will be nothing more than an empty cage. Kyuubi's soul will merge with Naruto and they'll become one. That means that the boy will either go insane, or handle it better than we can expect." The breath the Hyuuga let out was trembling. His daughter was right now hugging a bomb that was ready to explode. His heartbeat couldn't calm down for the hell of it.

They both stayed in silence for a few moments. Naruto's sobbing could still be heard, but it was calmer than before. They had to decide soon, for the rest of the Hyuuga clan was closing in fast.

Sarutobi exhaled another hale of smoke.

"Here's the plan, Hiashi. You're the only one that can as of right now understand the situation and act rationally about it. I have a mission for you." He said.

"A mission for me, Hokage-sama?" Hiashi questioned.

"You may be a clan head, but you are still a shinobi of Konoha, Hyuuga Hiashi." And all Shinobi of Konoha bowed to the Hokage and his orders. It was convenient most of the time.

XxxxX

"Here, here… everything's gonna be just fine!" the girl said cheerfully. Naruto's already red eyes seemed even more crimson now. She giggled.

"You… you think so?" he asked reluctantly. The girl, for the first time, grinned slightly.

"I know so! If you think of good things, good things are bound to happen!... or so mama told me…" she put a finger on her lips as if seriously trying to remember. Naruto laughed, heartily, sincerely happy.

"You're a really strange girl!" and he kept on laughing. She pouted.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked and he contained his laughter, enough to ask her a question.

"What's your name?" he asked. The girl blushed, a cute scarlet color splashing across her face as she was embarrassed for forgetting basic manners.

"H-Hyuuga Hinata…" she said, pushing her pointer fingers together in a nervous fashion. Naruto pointed a thumb at himself.

"I'm Naruto! Uzumaki Naruto! And it's decided!" he said, standing up. Hinata looked at him questioningly. "What is?" she asked. He grinned widely in response.

"I'm not gonna be lonely anymore! I'll make everyone acknowledge me one day! Soooo…" he took on what he deemed to be a heroic posture.

"**I'll become the Hokage!"** he declared and Hinata smiled, giggling at his antics. It was the first time in a long while that she was having this much fun with someone. Naruto rubbed the back of his head with a nervous grin.

"Well… do you promise? That'll you become strong enough to protect me? To become the Hokage?" she asked and took a step away from him, smiling wildly, unreasonably proud of her declaration. It was childish, but she was a child.

Naruto grinned widely. "It's a promise!" he stuck his fist out "I'll become the Hokage one day! It's the promise of a lifetime!" he said proudly. Hinata laughed.

"Meaning you'll stop being Hokage one day?" Naruto understood that as if she meant that he was going to die some day. He had read in a book he had scavenged once that all living things died one day. He grinned.

"I'm going to be the Hokage! It's a promise of an after-lifetime!" he declared once more and they both laughed in the bond that was just created between them, and only for them.

XxxxX

"Don't you hate to barge in such a scene?" Hiruzen laughed and Hiashi couldn't help but smile.

He nodded "My clansmen are nearing though. I'll do as you wish, Hokage-sama. Please inform HIzashi that I leave the management of the clan to his hands for as long as I'm gone."

Hiruzen grinned "Well, it'll only be one week. Enough time for you to miss your daughter and come back running, no?" Hiashi couldn't deny it, but he could roll his eyes. So he did.

He didn't have time to explain things to his daughter, so he simply cast a genjutsu over himself and leapt down, knowing that he would be invisible to the children's eyes.

XxxxX

Naruto's posture suddenly perked. His enhanced hearing had long ago picked up the oncoming mob, but he wasn't sure they were coming this way. Now he was. And he didn't want this girl to get tangled up in this. Reluctantly, he turned towards a smiling Hinata.

"I… I have to go now. Someone's chasing me and I can't stay." He said, dragging one foot in a circle on the ground. Hinata did seem disappointed.

"Will… will I see you again?" she asked with all the courage she could muster. Naruto smiled sadly.

"I… don't know. I'm probably leaving this village tonight…" He didn't expect her next move. The girl rushed in to hug him. Tightly.

"Do you really have to go? You're my first friend! I don't want to lose you!" she said and Naruto awkwardly tried to hug her back. He didn't have much success.

Hinata pulled away from him first.

"I promised I'll be Hokage someday, right? So I'll definitely return! Just wait for me!" he said, grinning. Then, a small blush came over his features as he looked away. "And… You're my first and most important friend too so… yeah… umm…" out of words, he couldn't see Hinata smile.

She leaned in and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. Something slipped in his pocket but Naruto had no time to check what it was as her captivating eyes looked fondly, softly at him.

"A good luck charm." She said smiling. Naruto nodded and then, awkwardly again, leaned in to give her a kiss on the cheek himself. Hinata laughed, finding it strange that he wasn't accustomed to kisses.

"I can see her! Over there, quickly!" they heard a voice and Naruto was once again in full alert.

"Oh crap!" he said and began to leave, feeling the red energy once again empowering his body.

He stopped for just a moment, looking back at Hinata. She… for just a moment there, she was astonished. At all the sadness, the pain, and the hopes of a young boy thrown into despair that where mirrored in his eyes, the mirrors of his soul. She was speechless, not only because she saw them, but because she recognized those feelings. She had seen sad people before, but Naruto…

"I promised that I'll return! To become Hokage and to protect you! Hehe!" he laughed and, wary of the oncoming group, rushed away. Hiashi and Hiruzen were amazed at the speed the kid took off. He would make a splendid ninja in the years to come.

It was at that time that Hiashi decided to uncloak himself.

"Daughter, I'm glad to see that you are alright. My heart is lightened." He said with a small smile. Hinata returned from her trance and stared at her father as if not believing that he was there. She didn't question his existence there.

"Tou-san, I just met a really good boy! His name was Naruto!" she said "… and he's my friend!" she added proudly and Hiashi couldn't help but smile. It seemed that, in the few minutes that the two kids had exchanged, a strong bond had already formed. Hinata seemed to have completely forgotten about the kidnapping as well, her mind completely focused on her rescuer and new friend.

"Hinata, my daughter, I have some urgent business to attend to. Some of our clansmen are here. Follow them back to the mansion." He said in as fatherly a tone as he could.

"Where are you going daddy?" she asked, using the 'cuter' name she had for him.

"I'll be going on a trip sweetheart. Take care of yourself and your mother while I'm gone. I'll be away for a few days. Do not worry. Everything will be fine." He reassured her and as his men approached, Hiashi took off towards the direction Naruto went. It was Hiruzen's call to inform the Hyuugas from here on out.

Hinat simply hopefully stared off in the distance, not caring much about her surroundings as she thought of the boy she had just met and befriended.

XxxxX

"_I have to get away… they can't know what I've done… they can't know that I… killed people… they're gonna be even meaner with me!" _the boy thought as he kept running. He easily passed like a blur out of the front gate of Konoha, and strangely he did feel a tad bit safer after being outside of those walls, where the hateful glares where.

He would have thought that after leaving the light-filled village darkness would come. But to his surprise the dark road was only a dull gray color and what could be considered pitch-black was no problem for him. He could see as clearly as if it was daylight out here.

Running between the trees, feeling and smelling the forest of the night, the sounds of the insects and the occasional bark of a wild dog, it all felt so new and alien to him, like hidden possibilities and pleasures he had long ignored, or rather, things that his human senses couldn't feel back then.

But why could he do these now? Hear so well and see in the dark? Was he not human anymore?

He stopped to ponder on that thought. Coincidentally to miraculously be nearby and the moon was full. He slowly stepped towards the water's surface and stood at the edge, watching himself in the mirror of the still lake.

Red, or rather crimson, eyes, claws at his hands and deep whisker marks. Was this him? Had he always been like that? Why did he remember that his eyes were blue?

At that moment his knees suddenly buckled. He fell to the ground, only his hands for support, and cold sweat run down his brow. A massive headache assaulted him.

A voice whispered within his _**"Our souls are becoming one… Hehe… arigato, kozou… now that my chakra has overtaken yours, it is only natural that I take over your body too. Now… wield yourself to me… wield yourself and be lost in oblivion!" **_the beast within him whispered and Naruto trembled. Images of his painful life flashed before him. Wouldn't he be better like that? But what did oblivion mean?

Across the lake's waters she saw reflections of his past. Children playing cheerfully without him, adults pulling away from him, hateful glares, always treated like a thief when he had done nothing to provoke them. The world didn't want him. Wouldn't it be better then… if he didn't exist?

"_**Exactly, boy. You mustn't exist for the sake of the world. Yield thyself to me and I shall cleanse it, cleanse everything! The world that hates you! The people that hate you! Those who hurt you! I shall erase them all!" **_Yes, that sounded so good, sweet, sweet vengeance upon everything and anything that had ever hurt him.

"_**Give me your body… and I shall kill. Them. All!" **_the beast roared and Naruto's body then froze. Yes… that sounded so appealing… to let them taste the pain they had given him, to let them feel the horror they had yielded on him…

Kyuubi laughed and roared in his cage. The seal on his prison began to fade as Naruto's will faded along with it. The cage slowly opened and the demon howled in laughter as he stepped outside, stretching and preparing for some glorious slaughter. His body then melted within the ground as he became one with Naruto's mind, and all that resonated was the bitter, dark chuckles of a bloodthirsty demon…

XxxxX

Hiashi arrived just in time to see Naruto bending over the lake. He could hear the boy speak but it was not his own voice. It was much deeper and much darker. Hiashi had feared this… and he had to strike now, before it was all too late.

Naruto's chakra was completely taken over and the Kyuubi seemed to have nearly fully molded itself in the boy's body. The chakra was flailing wildly, but the circuits around the brain seemed to have a silent wildness about them, the same way a predator thought as he sized up his pray.

Was the Kyuubi taking over the boy's body? That would be plausible, seeing with the chakra fusion and whatnot. The seal… the seal had disappeared! The demon was free!

That was all the motive Hiashi needed. He was sorry that he wouldn't be able to carry out his Hokage's wishes, but this was for the good of the village, no, of the whole world. If the demon was loose again…

Naruto turned to face him, or rather, Kyuubi did and Hiashi in that brief moment saw malice, hatred, a contorted face that did not belong to a child. The beast clawed at him and he had to momentarily fall back. The eyes of the demon peered at his very soul and the man couldn't help but shudder. This was his only chance to take down the beast, while it was still adapting to the new body, while it was still weak.

He charged in for a killing blow, aiming for the chakra points directly around the heart and the brain.

Kyuubi, meanwhile, could clearly see the attack coming as if the man moved in slow motion. Sadly though, even though he could see the attack, it didn't mean that this weak body could evade it in time. He cursed his luck, knowing that he would lose one arm in this charge. He thought of something more interesting.

It is said that the human brain can transmit trillions of information in milliseconds, so fast indeed that the blink of an eye would be like a garage door slowly closing.

"_**Look, look kid! This man wants to kill you. You want to hurt him, no? Hurt him! Kill him! He will cause you even more pain if you don't!" **_the beast persuaded, since Naruto had yet to give him complete control over him. But a child's will was weak. It was flexible, easily breakable.

Naruto looked, and when he did, Kyuubi found himself unable to move anymore Surprised, the demon wondered wildly what was going on, he began to panic. Images flashed through the child's mind.

"_It's a promise of a lifetime!..."_

"_I'll become the Hokage! It's a promise!..."_

"…_I'll protect you…"_

"_Come back safe…"_

"_Heh, don't worry! I definitely will come back! I've got a promise to fulfill!" _

The lavender eyes of the man had reminded him so vividly of those of the girl he had just met today. Her warm hug and her kind touch, her soft eyes and her cute laughter, it all came to him and hit him like a storm. He had promised her, and yet he was willing, he had been willing, to falter! He had been willing to vanish!

At that moment, Naruto decided. He would never break a promise. Even if it cost him his life, he wouldn't break his promises. His word was his life.

Kyuubi, on the other hand, had not expected this. Damn him for letting himself be nice and petty at that girl's touch! He should have forced the kid to kill that child where it stood before this could happen!

Naïve, he had been foolishly naïve.

Naruto wrestled to take control back. He fought with every ounce of his willpower to suppress the demon.

But it would not be so easy. The ferocious beast fought back, hitting him hard with all the hatred of his soul, all the darkness he could manifest.

But Naruto had only one thought in his mind. The kind, warm heart of the angel he met this day. He had given her a promise. He would one day come to return her kindness, and be the Hokage, the strongest, the mightiest! He could not fall here! He would not give in here!

Outside of his mind, Hiashi had stopped his attack a millisecond before it hit, for Kyuubi had not evaded. He looked and he saw that the boy's eyes were staring into space, into nothingness. The chakra in his brain, no, in his whole body, was running a-mock.

Was he rejecting the demonic energy…? That would kill him! It was too late to turn Kyuubi's power away now! It had already fused with his chakra coils!

Hiashi had two choices, and this choice would either kill him, or be his salvation. Within Naruto's mind, two sides of similar crimson chakra battled for domination, flaying wildly against each other. One was probably Naruto wrestling for control, and the other was Kyuubi doing the same.

The problem was, Hiashi couldn't know which part of the brain whom inhabited at the moment. If he closed of the chakra side of Naruto, the Kyuubi would prevail, but vise versa, and the kid would live.

He took his chances. Debating on a matter that would be pure luck would help not. So he quickly decided and hit the back of Naruto's head with two fingers, shutting off the chakra there for just a moment. This would give the advantage to one side, to overcome the other, and take over it completely while it was in shock. Thankfully, the brain was not damaged but, if Naruto was the one prevailing right now, the kid would be out of it for a few days, recovering.

The body stood still and Hiashi prepared his fingers to shut off the heart, just in case.

"_Minato… if it comes to this, I am truly sorry…" _ he waited a few moments and nothing happened, but Naruto's body stood rigid, still. He didn't know what to make of it. Even though the chakra was now flowing normally, nothing else changed.

Naruto's eyes took life once again and Hiashi gathered chakra in his hand, ready to finish this. But then the boy looked up at him, with innocent, childish eyes, as if he didn't know what he was doing there.

"I am… Uzumaki Naruto… you stupid fox…" he mumbled to himself and stumbled, unconscious. Hiashi caught him before he would hit the ground. Sighing to himself and with a large weight off his heart, he placed the child on his shoulder and began walking. It would take him quite some time to reach his destination, but if he run it would be easier.

Everything had gone smoothly… for now. Yet Hiashi, for some reason feared, that the next part would be much harder to handle than the demon he had just faced, and from whom Naruto had saved his life from, for if the boy's will had not miraculously intervened, either he or the child would lie cold on the ground right now.

XxxxX

_**Some hours later…**_

Slightly winded from all the carrying he had to do, and with a stiff shoulder, Hiashi knocked on the door, balancing Naruto on his back. It was a small, graphical house in the countryside, with a chimney and a wheat roof. The house was made out of wood and stone, a fine workmanship, despite looking poor at first glance.

The door opened and a woman appeared, standing tall and proud before him. He inwardly sighed. What if he was an assassin?

Well, to be honest, he would feel more sorry for the assassin in that case.

"Hyuuga Hiashi? Well that is one rare sight! What the fuck are you doing out here?" she said with a big grin and laughed. Brash, as ever. She had her deep red hair tied in a high pony-tail, her short blouse exposed her firm abdomen quite alluringly, and the jeans she wore seemed quite uncomfortable for combat. He sometimes wondered how this woman could be a kunoichi.

"Well, will you step inside or do I have to kick your ass in?" she said, then noticed the boy on his back

"What's that? A snack for the road?" she grinned and Hiashi didn't react at all at her lame jokes. Like an iceberg. The woman understood then that he was serious.

He stepped inside, looking straight into her hazel eyes, until he was past her.

"Pardon the intrusion."

XxxxX

**Thoughts and wishes are welcome dishes for me! I'll be happy to hear what you think of this new baby =) There was an inspiration bunny humping my leg a few days ago, and I couldn't help but write this. Dark, chilly, dramatic and romantic is how I like it. Prepare yourself!**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Scars**_

_**Chapter 2**_

"… So…" the woman spoke after long, long minutes of silence. Hiashi sat across from her on the low table, well mannered and holding his tea-cup with both hands.

"_The icebergs would be proud of him. How nostalgic." _She thought, watching intently as he rose the cup to sip. Just how… mechanical could he get? He shot her what she deemed a questioning glance, and so she remembered that she had began speaking.

"So… what the fuck are you doing here with a child?" she said, pointing at the sleeping form of Naruto. Hiashi didn't avert his eyes.

"I mean, the hell, you wanna drop your bastard child on me or something?" the fact that he squinted his eyes towards her ridiculous assumptions was the only sign of discomfort that he gave towards her comment.

"That, I'm afraid, is totally untrue." He spoke. She disbelieved.

"Afraid?"

"This child holds a great destiny. Whether it is to destroy or to create, is unsure yet."

"Meaning…?"

"He's the container of the Kyuubi. Or rather, he was." Surprise and disbelief covered her features.

"Was? Why? Is he dead?" well, he was still breathing though…

"No, not at all. It's just that due to certain circumstances the seal is broken, and the Kyuubi has merged with its host. What results this has brought are yet unsure. Which is why I'll be staying here for a few days." He sipped his tea calmly once more. The woman's eyes opened disbelievingly.

"You? Staying here? No." she stated with a laugh. Hiashi's eyes didn't flinch. Her joyful demeanor died down, seeing that the man truly intended to be serious about this.

"What's it to you, milky-stare? Why do you care so much over this case? Kage's orders?" she asked, grabbing her own cup of tea and gulping it in one go. It was quite amazing, actually.

"More than that, this child tonight saved my heir's life. I owe him deeply." Hiashi said unblinking.

The woman looked at her cup nonchalantly "Eeh, so you have an heir huh… a son?"

"A daughter."

"Hm… Wait… the fuck? You have kids? YOU?"

"Two of them, actually." Hiashi didn't seem at all affected by her indirect comment about it being impossible for him to find romance, let alone have off springs. He sipped his tea calmly.

The woman face palmed herself in disbelief. She chuckled.

"Great, even Hiashi the Ice lord has a woman. What is the world coming to? Where is my own romance? I need love God dammit!"

"Maybe if you placed aside some of that rude attitude of yours, miracles could occur." Hiashi's tone was flat, strangely.

"Look who's talking, the unblinking man."

"I'm still more charming." And for just a moment, she could swear that a tiny smile graced his lips and his long hair magically flipped back on their own.

XxxxX

When Naruto came to it had been roughly a couple of days. His recovery was slow and he didn't even open his eyes, only stirred in the bed, an indication that he was coming out of the comatose state. The woman stared at him for a long moment, before moving to open the door. Hiashi should knock in 3… 2… 1…

She opened the door and lo and behold, a Hyuuga had spawned on her porch. Hiashi didn't understand her smirk but let it slide as an effect of her less than intelligent humor. He stepped inside, not observing his surroundings but focusing on the boy in the bed.

"He's awake." He stated as a matter of fact. The woman rolled her eyes.

"Can't hide shit from you can I?" and she so wanted to tease him…

"You never could." Now she was getting ticked off, but let it slide as they both heard Naruto moan ruefully. Looking at each other for a brief moment, they both stepped closer to the boy.

"How is he?" she asked, more curious than concerned. Hiashi didn't answer for a long minute. She never saw him activate his Byakugan.

"Stable. It's quite strange actually, for he should have been dead already." Hiashi observed as the red chakra coursed through the boy as naturally as anyone's chakra would. It was as if the demonic chakra was… his, now. But that was nearly impossible. He had once seen a jinchuuriki in combat, long ago, and when that jinchuuriki called on his demon's power to assist him, Hiashi could clearly see that the chakra, while it empowered the shinobi, also slowly killed him.

It was a given that anyone's chakra that wasn't compatible with yours was deadly poison. And even chakra transition was a tricky procedure. Regardless of all those facts, Naruto seemed to defy logic (ironical) and fused his chakra with the Kyuubi smoothly.

Another minute passed with Hiashi deep in thought. This situation had given him a lot of brainstorming in the past few days. He was fairly sure that this had occurred because of the Shiki Fuujin. The Fourth had, as he had told the council a few days before the reckoning, made the seal in such a way that it would with time and maybe training allow Naruto to take over Kyuubi's chakra and use it at will, while not being poisoned by the Kyuubi's Will, which was pure hatred.

Somehow things had escalated and the chakra had fused very quickly, while Kyuubi's presence within the blonde had faded. He could feel no malice or rage. And the strangest things of all, the seal was no longer there.

It was as if the Kyuubi suddenly decided to hit the bucket and gave Naruto his chakra as a parting gift.

Which was as likely as the moon growing feet and dancing tango with the tree outside your house.

"Will he live doctor…?" she said in a mockingly worried voice, sniffling and using a finger to discard a fake tear. Hiashi spared her a glance.

"The matter is quite complicated. All I can be assured for the moment is that Kyuubi's chakra rests within Naruto right now. As a matter of fact, you could say that the child IS the Kyuubi, discarding the blood thirst of course." He nodded to his own words, thinking things over once again.

"So…" she bent over the bed and hovered above the child's face.

"He won't try to bite my face off when he's awake, right?"

"It's unlikely."

"Unlikely my ass!" she raged and the boy stirred.

"Try using that voice of yours some more, it seems that it truly can even rouse the dead." Hiashi stated, cracking his neck, then bent over the bed himself. Hyuuga's where warriors, and as such, a warrior had to know how to take care of his body. The healing techniques of his clan were quite… unique.

He gently placed a palm over the boy's sternum and muttered.

"Wake." And with that he pushed a small wave of chakra into Naruto's body. The blonde took a sharp breath and his eyes opened widely. Hiashi was surprised to see them a vivid, brilliant sky blue color, unlike the bloody crimson of that night.

His eyes shouldn't be blue. Not with this chakra.

"Naruto. Naruto, can you hear me?" he said in a hushed tone. The boy was taking quick, sharp breathes.

"What the fuck did you do?" she asked, worried this time, but Hiashi didn't look at her.

"I stimulated his heart. In simpler terms, I activated his body. He will be awake for maybe a minute or two before the effect fades away. I have to know something before he sleeps again." He clutched Naruto's much smaller, childish had in his. The woman found it strange to see such a gesture from Hyuuga Hiashi. It almost looked like compassion.

"Naruto, answer me. What is your name? Who are you?" the blonde seemed to finally asses his surroundings, but everything looked like a blur to him. Even the man that spoke to him right in his face. All that he could feel was the man's large warm hands clasping his.

"I… am…" who was he? What was he? Something roared within him. Something yelled to him to kill them all and get out of there. Why? Why should he do that? Who was he?

Hiashi's face contorted in one of worry as he saw Naruto's eyes flash red, his breathing quickening again, then turn back to blue. The change kept happening for a few more seconds, before the eyes settled to being a deep, crimson red. Hiashi poised his hand under the child's chin, poised to give him a fast, painless death if things went downhill.

"Who are you? ANSWER ME!"

"I am…" he yelled in pain.

"**You are a foolish mortal! DIE! Die so I can be free!" **the boy's voice was deep, dark. It was not his voice. Naruto struggled and his body convulsed. **"You… a Hyuuga. You're the one that stopped me from taking control! You shall perish fi… Argh!" **the demon's voice faded as Naruto struggled for control over his own body and mind.

"I AM…!" he sat up but stopped moving. Silent he sat for a few long seconds before turning to them with cerulean blue eyes and a wide grin as bright as the sun. He took in a deep breath.

"UZUMAKI NARUTO! FUTURE HOKAGE OF KONOHA!" he shouted, grinned once more, then passed out again. Both adults next to him sighed. This had felt more like Naruto was talking to himself rather than realizing there where people around him.

"Fuck he's loud." She stated and Hiashi nodded solemnly.

"He's disoriented from the mental struggle. Voice control is the least of his worries at the moment." Hiashi sighed as he stood back up, looking at the child before him with eyes full of sadness.

It was one of the very few times that she had seen this man show so much emotion. And all in one damn day.

"What happened? What was with that otherworldly voice?" she asked, unsure of how to put her question in words. Hiashi stayed silent for what felt like eternity.

"Kyuubi's Will is still within him, and without the borders of the Seal, Naruto's mind is constantly invaded. There is little we can do other than believe in his stubbornness and that he'll prevail." He began walking away from the bed, deactivating his bloodline.

"You mean that he may go rampart at any moment?" she asked, worried. Hiashi nodded.

"Indeed. His body is a ticking bomb right now and Naruto is the only one that can cut the fuse." Hiashi fiercely doubted that a child would have the Will to withstand the might of Kyuubi. All that he was betting on was that childish innocence that was unique to these young souls.

He wished with all his heart that Naruto's still pure soul would save him.

But it was unlikely.

"I shall return in a couple more days. He should not wake beforehand." He said simply and began to walk towards the door.

"And what if he does? What if he comes awake and blood thirsty again?" she asked. Hiashi halted his steps, looked at the floor for a long second, then gazed at her from over his shoulder, grief in his eyes, grief that she wouldn't have expected him to show for someone else's child.

"Kill him." He deadpanned and stepped outside, closing the door softly behind him. The woman stood silent for a few moments, gazing at the door, mulling over the idea of having to kill such a young boy if things went downhill. She rubbed her head in frustration and angrily sat down on a chair.

After long minutes of thought and brainstorming, she turned her eyes to the peaceful sleeping form of Naruto. Sighing, she rose from the chair and went to get some sake.

"_I seriously need a drink right now…"_

XxxxX

"Will you stop chasing me? Oh crap!" he yelled as he jumped over a ledge. The fox that gave chase behind him didn't seem to be willing to give up any time soon. Naruto whined to himself.

He had suddenly found himself in Konoha again, even though now, everything seemed… empty. There were no people, there were no animals, there was no life, only the dull, abandoned village.

Oh, and let's not forget the fox. Yep. The fox.

Stupid thing wouldn't let him rest for a second.

Since he woke here this fox had been sitting right next to him, staring at him. It was creepy. At least at first. He tried petting it and the animal obliged happily, glad to be in his touch.

Then, something that must have been coming out of a nightmare reeled it's ugly, furry head from behind the mountain. Literarily.

The beast that was once contained within the cage was HUGE. The large fox demon laughed and it resounded everywhere.

"**Come out, little child! Come out so I can devour you!" **Laughing evilly, the beast began to stampede around the village, howling in laughter and delight. Naruto, scared out of his wits, was hiding behind some barrels with the tiny fox for company. It too, was scared.

"Hey, find another spot to hide! This one's mine!" he said, putting an empty light barrel before him. The fox jumped on it and watched him from above. Naruto's face was incredulous.

He tried to shoo it away but it didn't budge. It just stared and yowled at him.

"Shh! Shh! Go away, you damn fox! Go away!" the animal wasn't fazed though and kept pestering him. The enormous beast turned its eyes on his location, sensing his presence.

"**Where are you boy? Come out so I can devour you!" **the demon roared in laughter, for without the seal protecting him, his jailor wasn't but a young, little, pathetic boy. The white eyed man had stopped him a few days ago, but that would not be so again. This time, his pray was nigh!

Naruto, for his part, grabbed the fox, opened a random door, got in and slammed it close. He panted heavily and the stupid animal was biting at his arms, but he withstood it and held it close, hoping it wouldn't bark or yap or miaow or whatever.

His heart was exploding in his chest and sweat was rolling down his whole body. He had to think fast, for with what power he should combat this giant, he knew not.

In another life, where all this hadn't happened, Naruto would grow up to be the greatest prankster Konoha ever knew. And even if he himself didn't ever realize it, his mind was a strategic one.

But now, that mind still young and doubtful, had a hard time to find a way to topple the beast before him. He had no physical strength, no agility, no speed and no weapons.

The fox had stopped trying to bite at him. Instead it kept staring up front. It began yapping. That brought Naruto out of his brainstorming.

"What the hell are you yelling at? Stop or it'll find us!" Naruto warned with wary eyes and then looked forward himself, towards where the fox was staring. His eyes grew wide and his jaw slacked in amazement at what stood before him.

With his cape floating in all its' windless glory, hair golden like sunrays and eyes blue like the clear sky, the Yondaime Hokage stood before Naruto with a small smile on his face.

Naruto slapped himself.

"Stop hallucinating, and focus, damn it! Or else your fox food!" he told himself and closed his eyes. A small chuckle erupted from the 'illusion' before him.

"From one point of you, I wish I would be a hallucination too." The Yondaime took a look of his surroundings.

"So this is your mindscape? Pretty cramped." He concluded as he watched the walls of the small house.

"My mindscape? What are you talking about? This is Konoha, and there's a stupidly large fox outside trying to eat me! It probably ate everyone else! There's no one around!" Naruto shouted, then slapped a hand over his mouth. Silence ruled for a moment and the rumbling of Kyuubi's feet could be heard in the distance. He sighed, thankful that the beast had walked away.

The Yondaime sighed, yet he not bothered to explain further. It would be prudent to do so against such a young boy.

But he was glad. Seeing his energetic attitude, the radiance of his light.

Yet he didn't fail to notice Naruto's enhanced instinct for survival. He would twitch at the slightest sound and his eyes danced around the place, searching, while his ears strained every time the Kyuubi's steps became less clear.

It seemed that his last wish wasn't upheld as much as he had hoped. The boy probably had had to go through much. Too much.

Then everything paused, as Naruto came to realize one simple fact. He turned towards the Yondaime.

"Why are you here anyway?" he asked, staring at the tall man. He laughed.

"You remember the seal you had in your stomach, do you not, Naruto?" he asked as he stepped towards the boy. Naruto's eyes squinted.

"You mean this weird drawing that appeared every time I used chakra?" he asked, uncertain. The Yondaime nodded.

"I had… 'programmed', the seal, so that if anything ever happened to it, anything serious, my presence would enter your mind." He said, poking Naruto's forehead. The blonde rubbed the spot.

"Wait… what do you mean by seal? What is that fur-ball out there? And why the hell would _you _have to appear in my head?" He asked suspiciously. The Yondaime's eyes glazed with sadness for a long, drawn out minute.

"I… that demon you see out there, Naruto, is the Kyuubi no Yoko." He said simply. Naruto's eyes widened.

"The Kyuubi you defeated and sealed away? But you sealed that thing in an infant and…" he paused as realization dawned upon him. He stared at the previous Hokage with wide eyes for a few silent seconds. Then tears began to fall from his eyes.

"Why…?" he asked simply. The Yondaime didn't look at him. Naruto's tone became angrier. He dropped the fox, which run to a corner, observing silently.

"Why did you do it? Why me? WHY ME?" he shouted now, not caring about the Kyuubi. He grabbed the Hokage by his vest, as best as he could from his height, and began to shake him. The man didn't resist, only looked down in sadness.

"Do you have any idea what hell I've been through? Everyone in that village hates me and I didn't even know why! I was kicked, bullied, and starved and up until now I thought they hated me because I simply existed! BECAUSE I EXIST!" He yelled, tears streaming down his face.

"At least tell me why… why condemn me to this? To this HELL?" he shouted again and the Yondaime gritted his teeth.

"How could I do this to anyone but **my own son?**" he yelled himself in return, averting his eyes, a few tears silently traveling down his own cheeks. Naruto stood there, paralyzed, as what the Hokage said slowly sank in.

"Wha…" he didn't understand. How could this be…

The Hokage fell to his knees, and hugged him. Hugged him tightly.

"How could I do this to anyone… but my son…?" he repeated himself once more. Naruto was still stunned.

"How could I ask someone else to sacrifice their own child, for something I myself wasn't willing to do…?" he said. Naruto could feel the man's tears wetting his own cheeks, adding to the moisture that was already dripping from his eyes.

'_The Yondaime… is my father…?' _he thought, and suddenly, his own feet couldn't hold his weight. Thankfully the Hokage was still hugging him tightly, so he didn't fall.

"But… But…" he sniffed "Why did you let them treat me like that? If they knew I was your son… at least if they knew… then I… I…" Naruto's mind flashed to the image of him butchering that group of villagers in rage. He closed his eyes and continued to silently sob.

"I couldn't." the man held his boy close to him. His words were whispers and strangely, Naruto found them comforting in a way.

"I had so many enemies in life, my son… how could I endanger you? The moment someone slipped the information that you where my child, you would be assassinated the next day." He himself was crying silently, thinking of the fate that his boy would meet if things had gone that way.

"So… I… we, gave you your mother's name. Uzumaki." Then Naruto's mind went on another revere. What if his mother was still alive? Would he still be considered a demon spawn? Would he be loved by her? What where his parents like? If his father had lived, would he be treated as a hero, or still a monster? Would he be playing with the other kids, or still stand aside, only to watch…?

He just wished life to be easier…

"Mom is dead too…?" he asked, hope filling his young eyes for one moment. The Hokage's eyes where clouded with doubt for a brief moment, but the young Naruto could not know that. He kept staring at his father. **His **father.

"Your mother… I don't know. When she gave labor to you we had been… forcefully separated for various reasons." His vague explanation didn't seem to faze the younger version of himself. Naruto let out a small, bright smile.

"Then there's a chance that she's still alive, right?" he hoped. The man didn't look at him in the eyes.

"It's a very slim chance…" he said "I wish I could see her one more time myself… I just wish…" he whispered to himself and then they both paused, as the Kyuubi's massive form approached, that being evident from how the floor beneath them quaked.

"But there's still a chance right… dad?" Naruto's smile was still there, even as the demon approached. The man's eyes widened. Then, he himself smiled, ruffling the boy's hair with affection. Naruto grinned widely.

"So…" he said "How about we step out there and teach that fox a lesson?" he asked and Naruto nodded eagerly, reassured at his father's presence.

"Oh, by the way." The young boy said "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konoha!" he said with pride, grinning inwardly. For just a brief moment, the image of the girl that he made this promise to flashed in his mind. Then his father came into view.

He smiled warmly "I'm Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage of Konoha." He laid a hand on his son's head.

"And you, Naruto, are my legacy." At hearing those words, another tear slipped down the young boy's cheek. This was all… so much…

"Let your enemies tremble at the sound of your name. Let the earth quake as you step forward. For you are a Namikaze." Information flooded his mind and suddenly, Naruto knew exactly what to do. He grinned brightly at his father.

"Thanks… dad! Thanks a lot!" he hugged him tightly, and the man, grinning himself, hugged him back. So this was what a parent's love felt like… it was warm, comforting, reassuring. In his father's embrace he felt safe. Strengthened.

"Now go out there and make your mother proud, son." Minato said and Naruto eagerly nodded.

The young boy stepped outside of the house and began running, towards where his fated awaited him.

Minato turned towards the small fox, who, during the whole ordeal, was just sitting there in the corner, staring at them both. The man smiled, as he slowly bent down. He extended one hand to the fox, which looked at it, and then began to rub its face alongside it, as if asking to be petted.

"So… you're what good is left within Kyuubi huh… the Light part of its soul…" even demons then, seemed to have kindness somewhere deep within them. This little fellow was proof of that. Even so, the mass of hatred that the sum of the body was far outweighed this small amount of goodness.

He grinned down at the fox "Don't worry, Naruto will be just fine." He said.

"He's my son after all."

XxxxX

Naruto didn't have much of a problem with finding the gigantic fur-ball. Soon he came upon it and began yelling with all his might.

"DOWN HERE! Epic meal time!" he shouted and the fox reared its head, grinning in mad glee at the sight of the pray.

"**So you came to meet your own death? How noble!" **he said and dived in, opening his mouth to devour the boy's soul in one go. Naruto stretched out one hand, and closed his eyes. Quickly the thoughts that were not his took over his mind and a sphere of energy began to form in his hand.

Minato stared through the eyes of his son. "Thank you for giving me control, Naruto." He said and the sphere of blue, swirling chakra began to grow to an amazingly large size, large enough to match the fox's head. The Kyuubi halted, staring in dumbfounded amazement.

"**What the hell is this…?" **How could such a small boy create something that required such a stupidly large amount of chakra? And then the demon realized, that within the walls of his own mind, Naruto's power could not be measured, for the only limit he had in this place was his own imagination.

"Eat this! **Oodama Rasengan!**" Minato yelled and both he and his son as one shot the enormous sphere of power at Kyuubi, colliding face-first and resulting in an explosion that shook the whole world around them. Strangely enough, no building was harmed.

Naruto panted slightly. Then he remembered what his dad had told him.

"_Within your own mind, anything that you think is real, can be real, and anything that you think that isn't, will not be." _He had actually demonstrated. He told Naruto to imagine of a ball, imagine how it felt, it's texture, smell, size, weight. As the boy gave form to these thoughts, so did a ball form before him, letting him stare at it in amazement.

His panting evaporated and he was full of energy again. This proved to be so much fun!

"Ne, dad, how did you do this with the large ball? Is it a ninja technique?" he asked. Minato stepped forth next to him. He laughed.

"Well, it's just one tiny jutsu I once came up with. Nothing serious. I just used your own mind to make it big and destructive. Thank you son." He said, patting the boy's head. Naruto grinned widely and for once in his life, for just once, he felt happy.

The demon was beginning to stir, yet he still had trouble with moving his battered body.

"Now is the time." Minato nodded to himself and his expression, from one of joy turned into serious. Sadness overtook his eyes.

"Time for what?" his son asked in bewilderment and fear. He could sense his father's intentions, from the look his face had. The feeling didn't sit well with him, for something told him that this would be the last time he saw his dad.

"I don't have much chakra left, Naruto…" he said, looking down at his hand. It was already beginning to fade, if only slightly. "Since the beginning the only reason I appeared was for the turmoil of your seal. I had hidden some of my chakra in there so that I would appear in your mind should the need arise." He turned to look at his son.

"I…" he gulped "I'm going to seal the Kyuubi again, this time forever." He said, grasping his boy from both shoulders, gazing at him in the eye.

"You have become one with the Kyuubi's chakra, Naruto. Without it, the demon will not be able to even enter your thoughts. By sealing him again, it'll mean that'll he be just a powerless fox hidden deep within you." He said. Naruto didn't understand everything, but did get that the big monstrous fox over there would stop bothering him.

The beast stirred its battered body. Naruto turned to his father.

"Will… will they still hate me?" he asked, fighting back tears. Minato, for once, didn't know what to answer to his little boy.

"They probably… they probably will still hate you son. For only you and I will know the truth. But you must stand strong! You hear me!" the fox kept stirring ,slowly adjusting itself. Minato looked at his son with teary eyes, full of sadness, fear, full of worry for the boy that he had to leave behind a second time.

"Your ideals are what you are, my son… protect those precious to you, live your life the way you want it to be! Make your future…"

"But… dad…" Naruto said, grinning, tears in his eyes. He wiped them off, then gave his father a thumbs up.

"I already have a future! I'm going to be the Hokage one day, like you are! Then everyone will acknowledge me! He!" he said and Minato was taken aback for a second. Then, he smiled warmly.

"I'm sure you'll be the greatest Kage Konoha has ever seen, Naruto…" Minato said, staring his son in the eye for a long minute. Kyuubi kept rising behind them, but they paid no heed as in these few moments of simple eye contact a bond between father and son was already forming, one that would last forever, this time.

"Rise to become acknowledged by those around you… become strong. And become happy." Minato didn't speak, but these words found themselves in Naruto's mind as if his father had them written on his own very eyes. It was the simple wish of every parent in the world, to see their child happy, and if able to make them so.

Minato Namikaze could do little to make his son's life brighter on his own. He was already dead, and this was nothing but a vision, a remnant of what he was. But Naruto didn't know that. He never would. And it was for the best.

"Farewell… Naruto… my son." And with that he stepped towards the massive beast. Naruto's eyes widened as the realization of what was going to occur finally sank in him and struck home.

"Wait… dad… DAD!" he shouted but Minato didn't turn. He couldn't, he wouldn't, for if he turned around now, saw his son's eyes teary and screaming for him, he didn't know what he would do. And he couldn't fail here, not now.

He made hand signs with great speed, unblinking, and as he finished, chains rose from the ground to entangle the great demon. The Kyuubi roared and in defiance began to fight against its bonds. Minato struggled to keep it at bay, so that he could use his next technique.

With one hand holding the chains and the other making one-handed signs, Minato's other hand became bathed in golden light.

"This… is a variation of the Hiraishin I never managed to try in life. Heh." He laughed to himself. His son might one day found out about this jutsu, or he wouldn't. It wouldn't make much of a difference, he hoped. Naruto had his own path in life to follow.

"**Sealing Thunder God!" **By manipulating the essence of the Flying Thunder God technique, Minato reversed the teleportation effect. So, instead of vanishing in a golden blur and appearing on a destination seal, the man sent the beast backwards in space, back to its seal.

It is strange that for no particular reason, more like for his own fun and joy, Minato had placed a Hiraishin seal on the Shiki Fuuin. Now, this tiny tweak was coming to save his son's life.

The demon roared but to no avail, as Minato's technique hit its weakened body. The demon disappeared and at the Hokage monument, where the faces where supposed to be, bars as high as the mountain appeared. They rose and the Kyuubi was thrown inside, howling threats and words of vengeance and bloodlust. The bars closed before the monster could step outside, barring it for eternity. The mountain once again took its normal form as the Hokage faces literarily melted back in place, creating the concrete that would forever be the demon's prison for ever after.

Minato panted. He looked down at his hands, which had began to fade away in golden sparkles. He smiled sadly at himself. He only wished he could stay longer, that he could have stayed alive, if only for his boy.

Something hugged him forcefully from behind. Minato didn't turn. Only closed his eyes.

"Are… are you really leaving…?" Naruto asked, sobbing tears of years of loneliness, of countless times of wishing to know who his real parents where.

"I was never really here to begin with son. This…" he looked down at his fading self.

"…Is only my Will. And my Will can't survive on its' own in this world. It must move on too." He said, and with what strength he had left, turned towards Naruto. The tears were beginning to dry up as the boy fought to control himself.

Minato Namikaze placed a hand on his son's head, ruffling his golden locks. He grinned widely.

"I pass it on you, Naruto. My Will, The Will of Fire." And with that, he began dissipating, forever being put to rest. The last Naruto ever saw of him was his grinning face, his golden hair, his cerulean eyes and the hitai-ate of Konoha.

"Thank you… for everything… father." He said with a smile of his own as a few more tears slipped down his eyes.

"We'll be watching, Naruto… we're proud of you son…" where his last words. Naruto bowed his head, to the fallen Hokage, to the man that was his father, to the one who had sacrificed everything, to the hero that was ever really only a father.

_His _father.

Naruto would rise, he promised himself this, he would become the strongest of them all. His father's Will would forever live within him.

The will to protect. The Will of Fire.

XxxxX

As she stared at his sleeping form, she began to wonder how a kid this small could be this dangerous. Then again, what was supposed to be dangerous about him was the demon within him, not the boy himself. It was strange how one had to think about it.

Then eyes as red as blood opened and stared right into her. His pupils were slits and his expression void. For a few seconds, they stood still, simply staring at each other.

Screams erupted. From both of them.

"Who the hell are you?" he shouted, pointing an accusing finger at her. The woman didn't know what to say at that moment. As if by magic, the door opened and the man she never hoped to have this feeling of relief at seeing him, stepped inside.

Naruto's whole attention turned to the man at the door. He was tall, had pale white eyes and a stoic expression as if someone had applied and flash frozen it there.

"AAAAH!" he pointed a trembling, accusing finger at Hiashi.

"HINATA! You where a guy all along?" he shouted in sheer terror. Hiashi sighed, stepping towards the kitchen to pour himself some tea.

"Sahana… what did you do to him when he awoke?" he asked the woman, who frowned at him. She crossed her arms under her bosom.

"Nothing. He began hallucinating on his own." She pouted, ticked-off that the man seemed to deem everything to be her fault by default. Naruto kept staring at Hiashi and mumbling things incoherent to both of them.

Naruto stopped mumbling and stared off into space.

"I'm not a girl now, right?" he asked himself and trembled with a shiver. Hiashi grunted.

"I would very much appreciate if you wouldn't address my daughter in such familiar ways, Uzumaki." He stated and Naruto turned towards him. Now that he thought about it, it was quite impossible for Hinata to grow two feet in height and turn into a man with such speed.

He had to remind himself that there where people out there who actually had families…

Plus, this man's eyes didn't hold the warmth that his daughter's sight seemed to exhibit. Naruto sighed, calming down. He finally took in his surroundings and noticed himself in a bed. An actual bed.

"Where am I?" he asked, amazed at the fact of how comfortable a simple bed could be. He hadn't slept in a bed for weeks. Maybe months. He couldn't remember.

"You're at my house, gaki." The woman, Sahana as the stoic man had mentioned, pointed to herself. Naruto blinked.

"And what am I doing here?" he looked as if he didn't believe that this question couldn't be obvious. Hiashi composed himself before speaking in a flat, clear tone.

"Do you remember what happened before you fell… unconscious, Uzumaki?" at his question, Naruto seemed contemplative. Then his eyes widened, as various expressions crossed his face. Horror, pain, and disgust were a few of them.

"I… killed people…" he said as he looked down at his hand. Was this his own hand? The one that had taken life from someone else that night?

"Wow…" Sahana faked enthusiasm.

"And Santa Claus wears red!" she said with a wide grin. Hiashi didn't blink but Naruto stared at her in disbelief, and slight fear.

"How can you… who are you? How can you be so calm about such a thing!" he asked, nearly yelled in outrage at her cheery façade. Sahana's demeanor changed as she stared hard at the boy, who was taken aback by the weight of her gaze.

"People die every day. So you butchered a bunch of morons into tiny, winy-little pieces. So what?" she shrugged, regaining her cheerful expression. Naruto kept staring in disbelief.

Hiashi decided it was his turn to cover up Sahana's crude way of showing reality to such a young lad. He was still only six!

"It was an act of self-defense, Uzumaki. That rage you exhibited on that moment was what was trapped inside your heart all along." He explained in what he thought to be a calming manner. Naruto at least stopped looking like a kid being told there is no Santa.

"You mean… sooner or later I would have snapped anyway?" he asked. Hiashi shook his head.

"That is something too unpredictable to answer. But you did enrage, which brought forth changes. Drastic ones." Sahana sighed as she understood what Hiashi was up to. He had taken his 'I know it all' posture as he prepared to explain the situation to the young Naruto.

She idly wondered how he would bring it about that the kid was now a demon…

XxxxX

In the end, Hiashi not even once mentioned the word 'demon' or 'beast' to the boy as he explained how things where. All he did say was that Naruto was the jailor of the Nine-tailed fox, which to their surprise, Naruto already knew. He in turn told them what happened within his mind while he was unconscious and how he came to meet his dad. At that part both Hiashi and Sahana found a small part of them pitying the boy, yet another one rejoiced at the happy expression he put on while talking about his father.

Naruto didn't brag about the man that was the Hokage, but he spoke as if talking about a sweet memory about the man that was his father. It managed to soften something within them.

"… I'm just really glad that I came to see my dad's face up close, at least once." He didn't mention the parts where he hugged him. He was embarrassed to do so. It was a sweet memory he wanted to keep for himself, after all.

Hiashi cleared his throat after a moment of silence and continued explaining. Naruto now had no normal chakra. While a human's chakra was normally a blue color, Naruto's now was a deep red, the chakra of the Kyuubi.

There were and are people in the world that their chakra was a slightly different color than normal. The Fourth's chakra was a light green color, while the famed Uchiha, now long gone, Shisui, had a vivid purple. But the color of chakra usually played no role, for it only differed from normal chakra in color and nothing else.

But Naruto's new chakra was special. It was demonic, not human. And that meant only one thing, the reason Naruto was still alive.

"You, Uzumaki, are now a demon."

There goes the bomb, was what crossed Sahana's mind. She stared intently at the blonde, waiting for his reaction. Naruto was silent for a few moments as his head titled downwards. He stared at his hands again.

Tears began to fall from his eyes. Both of them saw it.

"So… it's finally true huh? They can call me 'demon' now and they'll be right…" he said, and something told them that he wasn't talking only about the chakra change. It was hitting home quite hard for the young boy, the fact that he had killed.

"Demons are essentially creatures of lore that love to allure humans into evil deeds, or monsters that take glee and satisfaction from inflicting suffering on others." Hiashi said, drawing both their attention.

"Do you, Uzumaki Naruto, love to cause pain?" he asked. Naruto slowly shook his head.

"Then you are no demon, but you hold the powers of one. Think of yourself as a… humane, demon." Naruto didn't quite understand how to grasp this term. Sahana intervened.

"Doesn't it sound kinda cool, gaki? The Hokage of Konoha, a mighty demon! Feels respectable, eh?" she said with a grin. Naruto smiled at her, then grinned too.

"Well, what can I say, I'll be the first demon to rise as the Hokage! Now that's something for history to write about!" they both laughed and Hiashi silently sighed in relief. While Naruto wasn't comfortable with the idea yet, he was trying to adapt. The man would have commented him, was it in his nature. Instead he kept silent as they continued to joke.

"But you haven't answered me one thing yet." Naruto said, turning back towards Hiashi.

"Why am I here, jii-san?" he asked. Sahana giggled as she noticed Hiashi growing rigid at being called an old man. It was funny seeing the Hyuuga iceberg being emotional.

He grunted "The Sandaime deemed it dangerous for you to stay within the village as is it. We don't know at what extent you can control your new power, neither is he willing to let it come as a surprise." He stared at the blonde.

"You said that you wanted to be the Hokage. You promised my daughter so." Naruto blushed at the mention of Hinata, yet didn't mind to question how Hiashi knew that he had made that promise.

"The Sandaime is, on that account, giving you a chance. Will you study and train to become a ninja, Uzumaki Naruto? A shinobi in service of Konoha?" Naruto's mouth hang open as his eyes widened.

"Wait, what? You're telling me I can attend the Academy?" he asked in amazement. Hiashi was skeptical for a long moment.

"Not necessarily. It is prudent to say that after that 'occasion', more might rise to seek vengeance. It's going to be hard for you to traverse from here to the academy every day." He said in thought. Naruto seemed to ignore, or not notice, his mention of the slaughter, but did seem sad at losing the chance of growing into a shinobi.

"I will train him."

Both of them turned towards Sahana, who had, with a serious expression, risen her hand. Hiashi sighed. "Are you sure of this? Pupils never where exactly an item you excelled at…" he said. Sahana smirked.

"Sarutobi Asuma. Yuuhi Kurenai, both special jounin of Konoha. They both trained under me." Sahana was young, but even from a young age, she had been talented and with a bright career ahead of her. The only one that rivaled her at the speed she was climbing the ladder of power was Hatake Kakashi.

Sahana wasn't a Konoha ninja anymore. But there were other reasons behind that. Reasons he didn't dare mention. Her loyalty and secrecy though where undoubted, so neither the Yondaime nor the Sandaime ever placed her on the hunter's book.

You could say she was the fourth Sannin. But that would make them Yonnin. It was strangely confusing.

"You? You're a ninja?" Naruto asked in disbelief. Sahana looked insulted.

"One of the best, actually." Hiashi commented, which was rare of him.

"But the true question Naruto…" he said, having full knowledge of what the woman's regiments where like. Hiashi picked up his tea, which he had left unfinished, and sipped it calmly. How he loved cliffhangers, though he would never admit it.

"Are you prepared?" Sahana smirked, Naruto looked troubled, and Hiashi kept sipping his tea as if the world was a tranquil place and Santa Claus did actually exist.

All was good in that quiet, contemplative moment.


	3. Chapter 3 How Time Passes

_**Scars**_

_**Chapter 3**_

Hiashi had soon left after that talk and Sahana didn't know quite what to do with this boy yet. He did seem cheerful and happy-go-lucky from the outside, but she could easily spot some marks of sadness, distrust, reluctance. He was six years old and he was already this good at putting a mask on his feelings.

Even for trained ANBU, disguising emotion was much harder than nullifying it.

What marred this boy's soul was much deeper than what a normal human should be able to handle. She honestly couldn't understand how he had stayed sane. From what Hiashi had told her, he lived the life of an outcast within his own village, with hatred for the appetizer and abuse from breakfast since dinner.

She had some respect for him. That's the only thing that made her volunteer to teach.

Evil thoughts crossed her mind as she imagined what kind of killer she should make him grow to be. The silent, deadly one? The bloodthirsty warmonger or maybe the vigilant executioner?

What Hiashi hadn't mentioned, was that Sahana served Konoha as an assassin. The primal essence of a ninja, long before chakra came to be known and used, was assassination.

She hated herself for having to crush that blazing smile of his and turn it into something deadlier.

XxxxX

A week had passed since Naruto woke up. Diligently he had pestered Sahana to begin training, but she had valiantly kept refusing. Naruto was not ready. Not mentally, not physically.

First of all he had to recuperate from his small coma, and then, they had to figure out what was going to be with his new chakra.

So Sahana began with the most simple of exercises there was for a stalwart shinobi. And that was chakra manipulation in its rawest form.

The house where she lived was a few hours of shinobi travel outside of Konoha, in a remote area of the forest. The building itself looked towards Konoha and a small, tiny clearing took place right before the entrance, while woods encircled the area. Behind the small thicket lied a waterfall that at nightfall one was able to mildly hear. Sahana had always found that outlandish, dull sound of splashing water to be comforting. She loved water. Maybe that was also a reason that her affinity with it was strong. Maybe it was the opposite.

She didn't choose to step too far from the house though. Just inside the clearing, which while not big, would be spacious enough, she took Naruto for his first day of training.

"So… do you have any idea of how to use your chakra?" she asked. Naruto seemed puzzled. Seeing him scratch his head in thought made her understand that the boy knew little beyond that the sky was blue and the forests are green.

"What do you know about shinobi, Naruto?" she asked as she decided to take this from the foundation up. She allowed him another moment to think.

"Well, I guess, they use chakra to do awesome things, they're really fast, and they protect the village. What more could be there?" he asked with all the naivety of his age. Sahana sighed, realizing she was up for a long journey here. But, on the other hand, forging a child into a good shinobi was easier than doing it at a later age.

"Look, you're still young, of course you know shit about being a ninja. Let's start by the basics. Here, make this seal, and focus." She showed him the ram seal, the most basic of them all, and ushered him to mimic her. Naruto did so and Sahana began instructing him on how to call upon his chakra.

She demonstrated, and a small whirlwind of dark purple chakra began to emanate around her. It calmed down quickly and Sahana, a serious look on her face, told Naruto to try the same while he tried to hinge his jaw back in place.

"Concentrate. Feel it like the air rushing in and out of your lungs. It courses through all of your body. Channel it as if it was your own blood." Naruto found it hard to understand all the metaphors, but grasped the bigger picture.

It was quite easy for him to feel his chakra. It was pulsing like a radiant force within him, urging him to unleash it, to let it out. Naruto complied to that primal instinct and made the ram seal, focusing his chakra.

A massive whirlwind of red power began to pulse around him. It felt to him like letting out a breath he had been holding for too long, like lying on a soft bed after a tiring day. It felt… relieving, to let all this chakra out.

Sahana was wide eyed at the amount of chakra Naruto was letting off. This was as much power as an average chuunin should have, and Naruto was still a small kid!

But she was wrong. The power kept rising and the intensity was making the whole clearing roar as the wind picked up. Leafs and grass was cut in half and Sahana herself could feel the wing slightly biting at her. It was very weak still, but that made her understand that Naruto had a strong affinity for the Wind element.

"Naruto, stop!" she yelled and over the roaring winds and power, Naruto fought to force it back inside him. Sahana was glad that she was living a remote life right at this moment, because if anyone around had felt this Kage-level chakra, he would have probably fainted.

Naruto had a relieved look on his face as his chakra receded. It was just now that she noticed, but during the whole ordeal, his eyes had been blood red and his pupils thin slits. It was less intimidating to see them on such a soft face.

She had good reason to believe that Naruto had inherited Kyuubi's chakra to the outmost. He now had the chakra-levels of a tailed beast itself, which was above what any shinobi, even a jinchuuriki, could have or handle. It was amazing that his chakra core hadn't gone kaboom all this time from the sear size of his chakra.

But it was taking a toll on him. The look of relief was probably because of all the extra chakra he had let out. And that gave her a very good idea on what she had to began training him at.

Wiping sweat from her brow, sweat she didn't know had formed, Sahana approached the blonde.

"Okay gaki, here's the deal." She kneeled on the grass and pointed at his stomach.

"That little fox in there has given you so much chakra, that you are a living bomb right now." She tried to put it as simply as possible. Naruto titled his head.

"What does this mean? Am I dangerous?" he asked. She nodded.

"That's why, because IT is dangerous, that you have to firstly train to enlarge your chakra coils." He looked confused "I mean that you have to fucking get stronger!" she said, poking his forehead. Naruto grinned, even though it hurt.

"When do I start?"

"You're already late, baka."

XxxxX

One week passed with Naruto training relentlessly to increase the size of his coils. That meant, he had to constantly use his chakra in order for his body to get better used to it. And Sahana was a drill sergeant. Not only did he not eat anything until he had emptied all his chakra, he was 'forced' to meditate to fill it again. The same deal kept on for the whole week. Naruto had little other than having slightly more chakra but also a little bigger coils. Sahana needed more though. Yet again, she thought that there was enough time.

She also found it wise to confide with someone who was an expert in chakra, and also one of the few that knew of this situation.

"I am so sure that every time you are late, a kitten somewhere in the world dies in agony." She said with a grimace as Hiashi stepped on her porch at exactly the designated time.

"Another good reason for me to take my schedule to heart then." Hiashi said, unblinking as always. Sahana grunted as she allowed him inside.

Hiashi noticed the blonde lying on the floor, sleeping.

"I see you have redecorated." He pointed out.

Sahana glared at the boy. Then she kicked him hard in the abdomen, yelling at him for falling asleep during his meditation. Hiashi had already activated his Byakugan and was scanning the boy.

He was pleased with what he saw. While Sahana's training methods where brutal and unrelenting, they bore as much fruit as the pain they needed demanded. The boy was only training in chakra exercises and he had already developed a healthy, strong coil, while the chakra levels where normal and not excess.

He was a bit worried about how thin he had grown. Sahana was truly savage.

A small part of his wished that his eldest could be like this, but Hinata would only just now start attending at the academy. She was still young and with lots of potential. He only wished that his wife would pull through. It was at this challenging days of youth that Hinata needed her mother the most.

After things had calmed down, the woman had told Naruto to go fix himself something to eat. They had lots of cap ramen it seemed.

At the low table of the living room that they had already so many times converged, Hiashi reported what he had seen.

"You don't feed him well, but it seems that his coils have already began growing. A year in this and he'll be as strong as a Hokage in chakra." He said, starring at her. Sahana felt a shiver run up her spine, and then stood up, excusing herself. She returned a few minutes later with a couple of cups, hot tea inside them both.

She gave one to Hiashi which he politely accepted. Sahana sighed in relief. It was so much less awkward when he had his tea to mind too and wasn't just staring at you with those unblinking eyes of his. It felt much more normal to see him sip his tea.

"You know how this technique works, Hiashi. He has to be able to shut off his bodily needs to hone his senses. That's the only way he'll learn how to survive on a harsh battlefield, with no provisions, food or water." When Naruto would manage to tune off the needs of his body and focus his Will, his chakra would begin to reanimate trice as fast.

It was a very dangerous but very effective technique to hone one's chakra level and restoration. Many people who had tried doing this many a times fell victims to the after-effects, which where, with hunger and thirst shut down for too long, they eventually died of starvation or dehydration.

That's why she force-fed him even if she had to kick the food down his throat. Literarily.

"He has fallen victim to the after-effects a few times has he not?" Hiashi pointed out, judging by the way her eyes averted his. She looked sad as she nodded.

"It's still amazing that he can even perform this exercise, considering the intelligence of his age." He sipped his tea calmly.

"Don't worry Hiashi, I'm making sure he eats something even if it kills me." She said with determination. The man stared at her for a long moment, then shrugged.

"You took him as your charge and it's your burden now. I'm here on Hokage's orders, that you know." He said, sipping again. Sahana squinted her eyes.

"What's up, Hiashi? You sound more quirky than usual." She said, noticing the slight nervousness in his posture, something that was usually never present. It was as if he was twitching to be out of there.

It was Hiashi's turn to sigh. She was maybe the only woman after his wife that could read his body language.

"My wife… Yumiko…" the sad tone in his voice was so apparent, that Sahana was for one moment believed that the man in front of her was an assassin in henge.

"She had fallen ill after giving birth to my second daughter. I thought it was something that would go by, an after-effect of growing weak with child-birth." Hiashi's eyes turned cold, unmoving. Like ice.

"I was wrong." He simply stated. Sahana was a loss for words. As good as she was an verbally trying to abuse him, she wasn't one to easily comfort someone.

But then again, you never can confront someone who's like this.

"I'm sure she'll be fine…" she finally said, trying to sound reassuring.

Hiashi's cold stare turn to her and she felt chills once again assault her.

He didn't speak, which made his eyes even more intimidating. He closed them after a moment, calming himself. He had heard enough of these white lies, but Sahana never meant to offend him. He tried to overcome his emotions and hang on that thought.

He sipped what remained of his tea, and slowly stood up.

"I'm sincerely glad to see you both doing well. But, I must take my leave now. Urgent matters call for me back home." He said, bowing slightly, and then moved to exit the building.

Sahana stared at his back sadly as he left, knowing the pain he was going through right now. Old emotions and memories rushed her for a moment, but she fought to keep them down.

Naruto placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Her nearly teary eyes turned to look at him. He was holding a cap of ramen in his hand. He pointed it forward, towards her, motioning her to grab it.

"Ramen to drown your sorrow?" he asked. She laughed, grabbed the cap and ruffled Naruto's hair.

"You have personal experience in that, don't you?" and for once a motherly look crossed her face as sad purple eyes looked at cerulean ones. Naruto was too understanding for a small kid. Yet living in the streets can do that to you.

It makes you recognize what misery and sorrow looks like.

XxxxX

Just like that half a year passed. Sahana would occasionally leave the house with Naruto as the keeper, as she had to head into town for supplies. During those brief hours the blonde would allow himself some extra rest that the demon he called his teacher did not. He would lie around and think, watch the sky, or take care of the plants he had come to grow on the backyard. He found himself to like to watch flowers and plants he had cared for grow and become strong, radiant, and beautiful.

Maybe that was what his teacher felt like with him. Maybe it was her kind of hard work to push him so hard. Naruto said that he wanted to be Hokage, and that meant that he wanted to be the best. Being the best was hard. She had made him understand that very early.

What he enjoyed most was bathing in the small lake with the waterfall half a kilometer from the house. It was peaceful there and at times he would see animals come and drink. A deer or two were his most usually companions, but he paid them no heed and they didn't either. It was the best place for him to think about his training and what he wanted to do, how strong he wanted to become and what exactly he sought in life.

Seven months of constantly meditating and training your spirituality can make you think about those things. It had become a habit of his to think about such items during meditation. It made it easier to lose himself in that stasis and it was good food for the brain whenever he didn't exercise his body.

A couple of hours after having eaten Sahana would make him go through physical training that was born from the deepest hell. She would hang him upside down from a high branch and force him to do pull-ups until he couldn't move his body anymore. If he failed to do more than fifty every time, she untied the rope and let him fall.

Of course she had layered soft mattresses under him, so as to not kill him with a broken neck, but it still hurt like hell. Naruto soon learned that grabbing onto a branch was much less painful, and with that in mind every time he failed he struggled to catch onto something. That honed his reflexes.

The number of pull-ups was steadily, albeit slowly, rising, depending on how many times he didn't fail.

It was on a day like every other, that Hiashi came to visit once again. He didn't look happy, but not sad either. It was the usual, cold him. Sahana, having not seen him in all this time, hoped with all her heart that everything was okay, that Yumiko, his wife, was okay.

It was nightfall when he arrived and Naruto had already gone to sleep. She had once again drilled his body to exhaustion, and she was more than happy to see him steadily become more resilient.

Hiashi had tea laid before him, yet he didn't touch it.

"It seems that in my absence he has grown much yet again. He's surely much stronger than anyone his age right now." He said. Sahana laughed quietly, as to not wake him.

"Working your body to the limits every day can do that to you, Hiashi. The only sad thing is that, while he will be a great warrior already by the time he becomes a genin, he won't fit too easily with his fellows. We've got to do something about that." She said. Hiashi blinked at her, and that's how she knew that a profound idea had dawned on him.

"Why not take him to the village with you every time you go? Even if he won't like the idea, it will help him to know what to expect when contacting civilization." And by that, he meant people that wouldn't blunder and hurt him on the first chance they got.

Sahana didn't only have to train his body. She also had to mend his spirit, which was the hardest part.

"I believe that it is well within your abilities to make him an acceptable member of society." He said. Sahana's look was downcast.

"How can I do that, Hiashi, when society itself doesn't want him…?" she was obviously referring to the situation Naruto was suffering within his own village. Hiashi sighed.

"Make him strong. Make him strong enough to not fear empty threats and dull vengeance. Make him a good shinobi." He said with an urging tone, trying to cheer her in his own way. Sahana did smile a little.

"You're right. Maybe I can't be the best in social teachings, but I'll be damned if I don't make him strong."

"Of course she'll make me strong! Sensei's the best!" Naruto said with a wide grin as he popped into the living room. Hiashi was pleased to see that the boy had even grown a couple of inches since the last time he saw him. Not only that, but his body was straight and well trained for his age.

"Let me introduce you to another form of training then, Naruto." Hiashi offered as he sipped his tea. Sahana was glad to see him relax before the boy. Very surely, Naruto was ecstatic at the promise of more training.

"What's it gonna be? What? What? A kick-ass ninjutsu maybe?" Naruto said with a gleam in his eye. Hiashi allowed himself a chuckle, something very rarely seen and even less rarely forgotten.

"You are too young for any training of that sort, Naruto. Wait until you grow a few more years, then we can begin such exercises." He sipped.

"The training I offer is something that you might not find to be within your tastes, but I assure you, it will bear fruit in the future." Hiashi didn't seem to notice the blank stare Naruto gave him.

"He means that it'll do you good, Naruto." Sahana kindly filled in, and the boy grinned sheepishly as realization dawned.

"I am also bent on increasing the capabilities of his vocabulary." Hiashi said and Sahana winced, knowing that the boy was in for some pain. Few knew about this, but aside from a warrior, Hiashi was also a great scholar. Some documentations on the past Shinobi wars where of his work, and even a couple of modern history books had come from his hands.

"What am I supposed to do?" Naruto asked, looking at them both. Hiashi finally finished his tea. He set the cup down and with a firm gaze, looked at the boy.

"Tomorrow morning I'm going to head towards the capital for clan business of mine. You will accompany me as an aid and observe, learn, and judge." He said.

Naruto once again didn't understand everything, but from the way the man spoke, it just had to be something awesome and adventurous!

"Ok uncle, I'm up for anything! Leave it to me!" he said with confidence, then heard the tea pot whistle loudly.

"Oh shit." He run to save his own tea.

"Your language seems to rub off on him." Hiashi commented at Naruto's choice of words.

"And you're one hell of a manipulator, tricking a seven year old into thinking you're up for fun." She commented back. Hiashi shrugged.

"I do believe that the world will be a better place with one less mongrel to worry about."

"I'm so making sure that he'll be able to verbally rape you a few years from now."

Hiashi pointed at his cup of tea. "See my care-cup? It's empty."

XxxxX

That day Hiashi asked Sahana to stay the night, seeing that he would have to take Naruto with him when he was to go on his little journey, in order to give the boy some social training.

Night had fallen and the boy was already asleep. Only the two adults remained to discuss the matters of tomorrow, and of the future.

"Have you decided yet what course of training would fit him best?" Hiashi asked, and Sahana scratched her head in embarrassment.

She opened her lips to speak, thought about it, closed them, then opened them again, a more firm look in her eye.

"I'm going to let him take the same path I did." She said and Hiashi gave her the courtesy of raising one of his eyebrows in reaction.

"You're going to turn him into a ray of sunshine then?" he added sarcastically.

"No, you fucking idiot, I'm going to train him to be an assassin!" she exclaimed. Hiashi was not taken aback, nor insulted at her choice of words, for it was common of her to run her mouth that way.

"Excuse my rudeness then." He said in a flat tone, something that made Sahana sit back and stare at him for a long minute, as after that sentence he seemed lost in his own thoughts.

"What happened, Hiashi?" she asked out of the blue, yanking the man out of his trance. Not that you could tell. He could be simply staring at your soul for all you knew.

"I beg your pardon over the nature of the provided question." He slowly stood up as Sahana rolled her eyes. Something was clearly unsettling the man, for him to use that manner of formal speech and such.

She knew that he liked insulting her in every possible way, as did she vise versa.

"Cut the crap Hyuuga. I can see right through those pearly eyes of yours. What's up?" she asked with a jerk of the head, as if trying to mull the words out of him. Her hair where out of their usual ponytail, leaving them to hang long and straight in all their purple glory all the way down to her waist.

The jerk made them flutter, if only just a little.

"Nothing." Hiashi's tone was adamant. He stepped towards the exit, where near it stood the door to the second quest room that he was to occupy this night.

"Hiashi…" she said, beginning to stand up herself to follow him, eager to prick the secret out of his mouth at all costs.

"I said it's nothing!" he snapped, evident anger in his eyes as he turned towards her in an outburst that a raging moment made him think to be best to shut her up.

He was wrong. She was even more worried now.

Sahana knew that when Hiashi became angry, something was terribly wrong.

Yumiko…

Realization dawned on her features, for the man's eyes confirmed all her fears. Behind the anger evident sadness and sorrow as deep as the ocean where flourishing in a tornado of emotions that Sahana found overwhelming. How had he kept all these in, behind that cold mask of his and remained sane?

Maybe she was wrong. Maybe he was not sane at this very moment.

"Is she…?" was all she said. Hiashi's angered, yet sad stare turned away from her. His fists clenched in a pain only his own heart knew.

"She… died… a few weeks ago… she died right in my arms, in her sleep… all I ever wanted to tell her… all I ever wanted to show her…" Sahana took cautious steps towards the man whose dam of emotions seemed to creek with the weight of his soul.

"I… it's all so…" he was at a loss of words "I just wish I could tell her I loved her just one more time…"

Hiashi could feel tears tugging at his eyes. Tears for her smile before she fell asleep. Tears for her laughter that seemed to brighten even his darkest day, tears for the woman that had stood beside him in so many occasions of his life.

He still remembered… the way her eyes twinkled with light the day they were married… how she smiled like the most fulfilled human in the world the first time she held Hinata in her arms… He remembered all of it, her pride when he rose to be the head of the Hyuugas' her soft lips, her warm touch…

Sahana couldn't tell him that she was sorry. One part of her knew that they would be empty words that wouldn't in the faintest of hopes fill the void in his heart right now. Another part of her would be lying with these words.

The man she had always considered to be an iceberg, who rarely revealed emotion even in the most merit full of conversations, who wasn't angered at the deepest of insults, was right now falling on his knees and weeping.

It wasn't a human life that had been lost. Oh in so many different ways it was not just a damn life that was lost. Because that life pulled along with it, as parting gifts for the other world, pieces of the souls of so many people.

From Hiashi and Hinata she took a part of their love. From Sahana she picked her jealousy.

Because for years, for many long, agonizing years, there was only one man that Sahana had ever laid eyes upon and would ever claim that she loved. But it wasn't something that he would ever know.

It was too late now. Too damn late. She had her chance and she lost it, all those years back…

All she could do for that man right now though, was sit beside him, place a hand on his shoulder, and let him know that she was there while he, in all the dignity and honor that he could muster in this breakdown, shed tears of sorrow and wept silently, yet openly, for the woman that was his life-mate and would forever be.

Fate was a twisted thing. And the pain in both their hearts knew that first hand.

But for now, Hiashi, honorable leader and lord, for now he could afford himself to be human, to give in to his emotions and let his heart cry to the outmost for the future that he would never have and for the past that would forever remain with him.

A small part of him chuckled in the irony. They, he and Yumiko, had once promised that they would grow old together, taking care of their grandchildren.

He truly wished himself to vanish in the tears that fell from his eyes, vanish and forever be gone…

XxxxX

Morning's sunlight streamed through windows that were not of his own home, yet Hiashi found himself unaffected. Be it the strangeness of a foreign house or the seemingly hope-filling light, he felt none of it.

After that night, nothing could feel the void of his heart.

He sat up on his bed quietly, almost soundlessly, as if the sheets moved from a non-existent wind rather than his own body.

Outside the chirping of birds was strong and vivid, much like the cloudless day that was beginning to grow on the horizon. Yet none of these could fill his heart.

Hiashi, for once, truly felt nothing. He didn't care if he was indecently crying last night, he didn't care if he had shown weakness or emotions anymore. Right now, all he wanted to be was a simple man, one that could give in to his sadness.

The day his wife died would be forever embed in his soul. Yumiko was in so bad a condition, that her own children hadn't seen her for over a week. In that short week, her body had grown much thin, her voice too weak, her eyes too glazed.

She was a woman waiting for her death. Her dying wish was what had broken his soul much more than anything else.

She had wished him to send her in the hands of Kami himself. Instead of passing away like a cloud, she wished to be finished by his own hands.

Hiashi, that night, had killed his own wife.

Nothing brutal, nothing excess. A simple tap of chakra on her forehead and her brain had instantly stopped working. He had done that with tears in his eyes, sobs in his throat, daggers in his heart. A part of him was glad that it was done that way.

He could not stand to see her in so much pain anymore. He didn't know what had hurt more anymore, the fact that he finished her, or the fact that she was slowly dying in his hands anyway?

As the sun's light streamed inside the room, caressing his hollow face, Hiashi realized one thing at this very moment.

He didn't care. Right now, he didn't care about anything. What had transpired that night and her last wish would be forever hidden in the deepest parts of his soul, not to be told to anyone but his own grave.

Some stones where best left unturned, forever locked in the heart.

XxxxX

What Hiashi had taught Naruto that day was nothing beyond the ordinary. The man had simply wished for the boy to come into contact with other humans as much as possible, in order to cultivate a sense of community instead of solidarism. He had enforced that the boy would be polite to shopkeepers that offered him services, that he would choose his words carefully when speaking to someone older and hold typical respect over them, and lastly that he spoke whenever it was needed and not whenever he chose to run his mouth over the smallest of things.

Such was the etiquette that every Hyuuga was taught of from a very young age. It would be different when conversing with close friends, but that was something that Naruto would eventually learn on his own.

Hiashi that day found it strange that the boy seemed to keep a hardened, cold exterior as he sucked in whatever information Hiashi provided like a sponge. Not one mishap the man had seen, not once did Naruto not follow his advice and no trouble was made because of the blond. If he didn't know any better, Hiashi would have thought that the child had been brought up to be that way.

Whenever they happened away from other people, Naruto would somewhat return to his happy exterior. He spoke openly to Hiashi about many things and his eyes had a look that always looked forward to the future, to the next adventure.

It was just a speculation, but the blond had a very good affinity of adapting on his environment very, very quickly. Sahana was right. He would make an excellent assassin.

Hiashi had not missed how Naruto's eyes seemed to flash red whenever they passed a group of unkindly looking people. To his astonishment, he had also that day discovered that the boy had enhanced senses far stronger than that of any human.

Where Hiashi could only hear a slight mumble, Naruto had easily heard those men badmouthing the Hyuuga over many things such as greed and an attitude of higher stature. Hiashi had pointed out to the blond that the best thing you could do to someone that badmouthed you was to relent.

You had to look them in the eye and show them that, in all the honesty of the world, you didn't give a damn.

But that was a weak point in Naruto's façade. Whenever people precious to him where badmouthed or openly threatened, the boy would easily go rampart. In some part of his soul that was still alive, Hiashi felt flattered that the boy thought of him as a member of his own family.

Naruto _did _call him Uncle a lot.

It seemed that the boy could also change the color of his eyes at will, another thing that he had hidden from Sahana only because he thought it irrelevant. The Hyuuga found it amazing that Naruto's mental growth was by far surpassing humans of his age, but he guessed that the Kyuubi's chakra did more than simply empower the boy.

As it had began the day also ended, with Naruto being perfect at playing the role of his aid in the meeting that he eventually had to attend. Hiashi then asked something different of Naruto.

He asked him to hide.

To what purpose, the blond didn't know at first, and even when he asked, no answer was given other than an urge to hurry on. Naruto did as he was told and hid the best he could.

Which was something amazing, really.

With Byakugan blazing, Hiashi easily kept track of the boy, but he knew from first glance that if anyone without a doujutsu tried the same, he would fail miserably.

Naruto had been maneuvering throughout the small roads, low walls and thin alleys as if he knew them by heart. With speed and precision the boy was flying across debris and obstacles, even people at times, that Hiashi actually had to follow before the boy went out of range of his bloodline.

At one point, Naruto got out of the alleys and mingled with the crowd of people that walked the streets. Thankfully, his completely red chakra made him a beacon of light for Hiashi to follow.

After hours of tailing, for the damn child just wouldn't sit still for a moment, Hiashi finally caught him. Naruto was flabbergasted.

The Hyuuga would have to report all these to Sahana immediately. Years of surviving in a hostile place had tuned Naruto into a perfect escapist, even as a young boy.

He wouldn't make a good assassin.

He would maybe make the perfect assassin.

XxxxX

"So… you had to force yourself only to catch up with him?" Sahana asked in disbelief. Hiashi had an emotionless mask on yet his voice did betray a little pride and anticipation over what Naruto was and what he could be.

"Indeed. The boy was so elusive that, without the Byakkugan that can see through objects and strongly detect chakra, it would have been impossible to keep sight of him." He left out the part that he had actually lost the boy for a few minutes, when he had gone out of his range.

"Fucking amazing. He's nearly as good as I was his age." She said with a wide grin, endless images of just how strong she could make a child with such potential.

"There is a downside to his infiltration skills though." Hiashi said in all seriousness.

Sahana quirked an eyebrow. He elaborated "It may be a side-effect of Kyuubi's chakra, but he is slowly, yet steadily, growing vicious. He cares a lot about his own people and won't hesitate to give in to taunts and charge headfirst into his own demise. You have to especially train him to withstand taunting and help him keep his cool at all costs."

"So… you're saying that the red chakra is making his anger more volatile than it should be?" she speculated and Hiashi nodded.

"Correct." They both mulled over the idea that this was something irreversible and the only solution would be for Naruto to have anger management lessons and mental reinforcement through extra teaching. They would have to make him smarter, stronger, and in general a faster thinker, which at the moment he wasn't by a long shot.

The boy was good in nature, but hate was an emotion that no human could not have or never experience.

Sahana suddenly had an idea, which was shown by the shine in her eyes and the glee in her voice as her eyebrows came closer together in a vicious look that Hiashi had learned to dread.

"I think I know what to do." She said.

"I'll make the boy hate, hate with all he has." She laughed.

"And I'll teach him to hate with style."

XxxxX

"I wonder if I'll ever make any friends…" he whispered as he caressed the thick bark of the tree before him, feeling the rough wood beneath his fingers. As if to respond to his musings, a squirrel stopped by to look at him as it came downwards from the tree.

Naruto laughed "I meant real friends!" he exclaimed, looking upwards to the heavens. Then a memory touched him, one that he hadn't forgotten as of yet and probably would never forget for what was left of his life.

He tenderly touched his cheek, where her hand had caressed him. That touch held so much care… so much warmth… to that girl he had promised that he would become the Hokage one day. To her he had promised his return.

Embarrassment crept up on his face as it flushed a vivid red. Had he really made such deep promises to a girl he had first met? Would she even remember him when he returned? If he ever did?

What did it feel like to have a friend anyway? He had seen the children when he had gone in town with Hiashi. They played around, fooled with each other, sometimes even hurt each other.

But, they picked each other up, they worried for each other, they acknowledged each other.

So Naruto guessed, in finality, that calling someone 'friend' was a complicated mix of things that came together in that single word, in that single relationship.

But he was still too young to really know. He had still much to learn.

"The water always flows so smoothly…" he observed as he watched the stream of the small river pass by in a steady, vivid rhythm. He had realized that, from the moment that this change in his chakra happened, many things about him also seemed to change, rapidly. He could see further and clearer than most people, smell things way more vividly, hear with much greater ease.

Even his heart seemed to have changed. Where he would have loved to do nothing but fool around and train, he now thought himself of having a greater purpose. Searching for the meaning of his life.

He had quickly realized that most children didn't think in this way. It was an adult thing, to wonder about the future and the past and not just look blindly in the present and enjoy it and its every moment.

Some revulsion crept within him about his own twisted fate, for he knew that in a few years from now, he would probably mentally be an adult in the body of a child. He would have lost his childhood, forever.

Not that he ever really had one. The cruel life he had before his uncle brought him to Sahana would not be called a life suitable for a kid, he knew.

So in essence, Naruto was never a child to begin with. He had to grow up the moment he had to fend for himself.

He clenched his fist, effectively crashing a branch he had not realized he had gripped while he was lost in thought. Was he always this strong? He didn't remember himself able to crush things, not with this small hand.

Was this even his hand right now? This hand that within it coursed the cursed power of a demon?

Anger, frustration, sadness, it all came in a wave, crushing in on him. His eyes flashed a vivid blood red, but he couldn't know. He was too lost in thought to care about the world around him in this moment.

No, this would not be his fate. If this was how the world wanted him, he would be so. A demon, a destroyer. But, he would be so by his own choice.

He would forge his own fate, make his own future, carve the path that he chose himself.

This was his fucking life. If he didn't fight for it then no one else would. No one.

Conviction shone in his red orbs. This was the power of a demon his father had tamed with hopes that he would one day conquer this beast and control its power. Well, this day just seemed to come a lot faster than anyone had expected.

Naruto would harness this might. He would grow strong and no one would control him, not anymore. He would train hard and gain power in order to protect his people, Sahana, uncle Hiashi… the girl that he had promised to protect.

Nobody would reign over him anymore. With these two hands he, by his own will, would conquer _them_. He would become the Hokage, and bring justice. The world didn't need more suffering than it already had. His life didn't need more suffering than it already had.

Maybe his thoughts that day where a little naïve, the thoughts of a child that didn't yet know the world as what it really was. But his Will was genuine. He had a purpose in his mind and he would meet any foe, even himself, in order to achieve it.

He would hope for a better future for every life in this world, he would strive for that, and he sincerely hoped that he would succeed. An iron fist he would create.

Little did he know that day, that this childish dream would in the future be turned to dust by the cruelty of what humanity was really capable of.

XxxxX

Years passed and Naruto trained relentlessly towards his new purpose. Slowly his cheerful attitude subsided, as Hiashi pointedly trained him in the ways of what society was. Naruto soon caught on that being a bubbly idiot was not overly appreciated by most people. Others liked it, others didn't.

He didn't feel like playing the bubbly idiot anyhow though.

Sahana was pleased with the seriousness that overcame him when it came to his training. She had soon told him that he was meant to become an assassin, a striker of the shadows, for his skills in stealth and manipulation excelled marvelously.

And even though his efficiency was deadly and accurate, through Sahana Naruto never lost his smile, or the child that truly rested within him. She was there for him for every day, every hard hour, every happy event. She was like a mother to him.

So he kept on smiling. For the people he loved he would smile, he would be happy alongside them. He would be a bubbly idiot for them. For him.

Sahana and Hiashi never once talked or mentioned about the event of that night, now long ago. But that simple event seemed to have helped the man a lot. By being near to a person that understood him by having heard of his pain, he would be more at ease, less anxious. It had helped him recover, albeit slowly, from that pain.

It had helped him to be a human again, even though the ache of that loss would never truly be gone.

He had no one in his clan except for his brother to speak of that pain. Having someone else too acknowledge his fears and the fact that he was still human and a leader even though he shed tears was a support he needed.

Maybe in another time, where Sahana or Hizashi hadn't been there, Hiashi wasn't sure of what could have occurred. Maybe he would have grown to be a spiteful leader and an uncaring father. But thankfully Hinata had grown into a strong girl, being on par in the Academy with the infamous last Uchiha.

She would always be cheerful, with a caring smile on her face. She did though have a slightly too soft personality. She would easily sympathize with others and trust them, care for them, just like her mother did.

She was just like her mother in so many ways, sometimes it scared him, as well as elated him. But this kind of personality would one day mar her shinobi career. He didn't want that day to come yet he knew that it would happen, without doubt.

**Six years **had passed since Naruto began living and training with Sahana. He was now twelve, the age that children graduated the academy and became real Konoha shinobi. Naruto would have to get through that examination too if he wanted to become a part of his home, a leaf.

But, Hiashi had little doubt in his mind that the boy was much better than any of the Chuunin that taught there. Hell, Naruto was as strong as an ANBU in skills, Hiashi had trouble sparring with him!

He hadn't failed to notice the change in the blond. His personality, while cheerful to his close people, was cold, defiant and quite scary when he entered combat, where he met his opponent with unmatched efficiency. Hiashi hadn't seen such talent since Uchiha Itachi.

His relentless training had paid off. While still a kid, by being empowered by hard work and the might of his own demonic chakra, Naruto was faster, stronger and by a long shot tougher than most humans.

It didn't come as a surprise then when the Hokage had called Naruto on a mission. Which was unheard of, since the boy hadn't even graduated from the Konoha academy, even though he was technically much stronger.

It was Naruto's first mission as a member of the Black ops. An ANBU.

Sahana was the one that had nominated him for it. The time had come for the boy to show his real worth.

XxxxX

**A few days before the graduation tests of the Academy…**

"Time and again I had dreaded the moment I would step here once more…" Naruto said with a bit of fear and awe as he closed towards the gates of Konoha. A hood hid his shock of blond hair and most of his features. Only his blood red eyes could be seen if the light fell on them from the right angle.

Hiashi was walking next to him, not a trace of emotion, as usually, on his face.

"It was inevitable, in many ways. Would you have preferred to try and become a shinobi of a different hidden village, maybe?" he inquired, casting a side-glance at Naruto. The boy snorted.

"Don't give me ideas ojii-san." He said. Soon they neared the gates and the guards simply bowed at Hiashi as they acknowledged his presence. They didn't question the child that walked beside him.

"Pretty lax security." Naruto commented, glancing backwards to the two lazy gatekeepers. Hiashi shrugged.

"Even if we where an enemy, we wouldn't want to announce ourselves at the very gates of a hostile village, would we?" he asked and Naruto grinned.

"Unless you're a maniacal killer?" he said.

"That's why there are two guards over there. So that if one of them dies the other one will have time to run." Hiashi answered with a straight face.

"Honestly, uncle, your humor is almost as bad as kaa-sans' choice of vocabulary." He commented dryly. Hiashi's eye sparkled.

"I prefer to see it as, 'being good at obscene humor' rather than saying I'm untalented in that sector."

"You know what, I'll be going deaf for the next few minutes. Poke me when you feel like a matter of life and death is coming up." Naruto said, quirking Hiashi's nerves. If the boy was good at something, it was at pointing out your faults.

The man had yet to decide if this was a good or bad thing. He didn't find it in himself to discover the answer.

"Say, uncle…" despite his demeaning tone, Naruto never forgot to address Hiashi with some kind of familiarity and respect.

"Do I really have to go through this academy exam thing? From what kaa-san said, it's just a stupid bureaucratic procedure! I mean come on, I'm practically an ANBU already!" he tried to whisper that last part in exasperation. Hiashi didn't seem to notice any of his words though as they kept walking in a steady pace towards the Hokage tower.

Naruto became aggravated after a few more moments of silence.

"Why the hell are you ignoring me?" he asked.

"There's no point in talking to a deaf person, is there?" Hiashi deadpanned. Naruto, acknowledging his defeat, sighed and bowed his head, careful not to let any bystanders see his face, glad that Hiashi was there to attract people's attention in all his iceberging glory.

It was maybe another fifteen minutes of walking before they reached the Hokage's tower. Strangely, even though Konoha was a large village, the main entrance wasn't too far off from the tower.

No one questioned the Hyuuga Lord's presence in the tower, neither that of what seemed to be his aide. Without much of any resistance they easily slipped inside the Hokage's office, where Sarutobi sat, staring off into the distance of the village, slowly smoking from his favorite pipe.

Both Hiashi and Naruto bowed.

"Pardon the intrusion, Hokage-sama. We have arrived as you requested." The man spoke in a formal tone. Sarutobi smiled at them both.

"How long has it been, Hiashi? Five, six years since that night?" he spoke, and Naruto could have sworn that a tiny smile had formed on the Hyuuga's lips.

"Six, my lord." He pinpointed and Hiruzen nodded.

"Indeed. I hope Sahana didn't give you too much trouble in all this time?" he asked and Hiashi stood still as a statue. The older man laughed, knowing this was how Hiashi tended to express his uncertainty.

"And you've grown quite well as well, Naruto." He said, averting his attention to the blond. With a wide grin, Naruto took the hood off, revealing long blond hair that fell before his eyes and down to his cheeks, along with his trademark blood red eyes.

To anyone else, those eyes would have looked unsettling, more because of the slit pupils that made him look like a wild cat, along with his birthmark whisker scars.

"You still smoke too much, ojii-san." He said, familiar with the old Hokage from before he went away and after his return. As an ANBU, Naruto answered directly to this man. The boy had never forgotten the kindness that Sarutobi had shown him in his early years.

The Hokage laughed "Well, an old man my age is allowed to have at least one sinful luxury."

"Careful, they tend to multiply." Naruto whispered, neither men hearing him.

"So, you're here about the academy graduation, am I correct?" he asked. Naruto nodded, albeit with a grumbling face.

"Why the hell do I have to go through this? I mean, come on! Ain't I already an ANBU?" he repeated the question he had earlier done to Hiashi to the old man, knowing that Sarutobi would answer him at least.

"Naruto, you may be skilled to that level, but you aren't an official shinobi until you have graduated from an Academy." The man said, and even though his tone sounded finite, Naruto could sense that there was more underneath. His breathing pattern expressed so.

"Hit me." He said, making Hiruzen raise an eyebrow. The man smiled.

"Can't hide from you, can I?" he asked in a mild tone that was barely audible.

"Truth is, what I really want is for you to understand the spirit with which we train our shinobi." He took a drag from his pipe "And that spirit, is teamwork. Now, for you to hone that skill, for being a team player, make no mistake, is a hard skill to achieve, some standard, yet dull from your point of view, procedures are necessary." He turned towards the village, looking through his window.

"The Will of Fire… it has burned in the heart of our men and women for more than a hundred years now. We inherit that will from our forefathers, and pass it on to our own children." He turned, gazing Naruto straight in the eye.

"That, is the inheritance of my own that I will be leaving into your hands, Naruto. To be leaf you must first understand the tree. A leaf can't live on its own. It needs its fellows and the tree to survive."

"Each leaf is its' own and all of them together compose the tree. The tree, the steady bark that keeps the leafs together, is the Hokage. The leader." He breathed another drag of smoke.

"After you 'graduate', you'll be assigned to a team. There, in that cell, learn and understand what it is like to be part of a whole. To have friends. To have allies."

"Only then will you take a step towards what it is to be the Hokage of Konoha." He smiled down at the boy. Naruto hadn't realized, but the old man had crept up very close to him.

He ruffled the blond's hair affectionately.

"Grow into a fine man, Naruto."

XxxxX

"So, this is the academy?" Naruto asked, clearly unimpressed. Hiashi nodded. His daughter would be taking the exam today too. The days had flown by quickly after they arrived, what with the busy schedule of running a clan and whatnot.

"Say, uncle, will we be tested in combat of any sorts?" he asked with hope. Hiashi nodded once more, then instantly regretted it.

Naruto looked forth with glee in his eye. "This day just turned a lot more into my fancy…"

Hiashi could easily see the sadistic hopefulness in the boy's posture, and prayed to God that whatever his opponent in the sparring exercise did, he would not die today.

Sahana should be arriving soon to observe the day her 'son became a ninja!', as she had put it. And sure enough, a weave of long purple hair could be seen in the distance, along with the cheery woman who was waving her hands like mad as she closed in on them.

Hiashi sighed, sincerely hoping that no major incident would occur today.

XxxxX


	4. Chapter 4

_**Scars**_

_**Chapter 4**_

It seemed to be a busy day for the academy, and it was not hard to guess why it would be so. With the exams coming up, not only students, but parents as well tended to gather and flock near the entrance to see whose child would become a shinobi on this day. Though none of the examinations where public, some of the more hardcore parents would sit outside the building all day, waiting for the news.

It was still too soon though for parents to come, so the flocks of what Naruto saw where all students, mostly. Some guardians and parents had come to escort their kids, a thing he found ridiculous. If you were going to be a ninja, why the hell did you need escorting?

Shinobi are supposed to be able to fend for themselves too.

Discarding that thought for another time though, Naruto focused on his own 'mother', or rather, the woman that he had come to call that way. Sahana was nearing with a big smile on her face.

"Hey, kaa-san." He greeted her with a small hug, which she returned whole heartily. She had lost track of when she had started to like this boy so much, maybe more so because she didn't have a child to call her own. Not yet.

Hiashi nodded at her in greeting.

"So, my son is finally becoming a real flippin' ninja!" she said with a laugh. Naruto grinned, brining his hood down.

His eyes had returned to their cerulean color. Sahana put a hand on her foster son's shoulder.

"Remember kid; Play nice, lay low. We all know you can kick everyone's asses in there, but we wouldn't want to make them feel too worthless, riiight?" she said with meaning, poking him with her elbow. He rolled his eyes.

"Okay mom, I'll try to not kill anyone today. No promises though…" he said, adapting the vicious glee Hiashi had previously seen. Sahana smacked him on the head.

"Naruto! No bloodshed for no reason!" she stated, or rather ordered. Naruto sighed in defeat and nodded.

Neither Naruto nor Sahana knew, but Hiashi was well aware of Naruto's tendency for violence, and its source. It was strange, yes, but the red chakra he had from the demon fox seemed to empower his emotions along with his body, especially emotions like hate, or anger, which was what defined the Kyuubi.

It was through the demon's power that Naruto had managed to become a member of the ANBU from such a young age, and the training he had gone through himself. His skills as an infiltrator had proven very useful to the squads he had worked with.

But now, it was time for him to enter the frontlines, that one little thing that all shinobi before him had grown through, and maybe one day he would speak of this to his children, if he ever had any.

Which was pretty lame, because, let's admit it, the academy is lame. It looked lame. So it had to be.

By stretching his senses within the building, he could not detect a single chakra signature that was even remotely close to his level. Only a few of them showed promise but other than that, Naruto felt as if not so many of these kids would become ninja.

"You prepared boy?" Sahana asked with a mocking grin. Naruto scoffed at her. He flexed his muscles, craned his neck on both sides for a moment and then took a deep breath.

"As ready as I'll ever be kaa-san." He answered finally. Sahana grinned widely.

"Good, good. Now I'm assigning you a mission here, Naruto." She said, piquing the blond's attention.

"You are to enter that building and kick some ass without letting anyone realize your true level of strength. Pass the ninjutsu test without doing the necessary ninjutsu and finish off your opponent in the taijutsu spar without him managing to touch you but still making it look like you have been losing."

"What about the academical part?" he inquired with curiosity, a small smile on his face as a plan was already formulating in his mind.

Sahana grinned widely, for the evil of this part would know no bounds for years to come.

"Steal the correct answers from someone else and replace them with your own incorrect ones. Choose carefully, and if you can't manage the switch during the examination, do it afterwards." She said and Naruto grinned widely, for mischief was abound and he would be carrying its flag.

Naruto bowed to his mother, a grin still on his face.

"Thank you very much! I'll be off to carry my duties now!" he said and scurried with haste inside the building, intent to begin the execution of the plans he had already thought of.

Hiashi turned to Sahana with a quirked eyebrow "You do realize that the requirements are quite stupid and on the last part, unethical too, do you not?" he asked and Sahana smiled widely at him, a knowing grin.

"Of course they are. How else would he get fired up about this?" she said, obviously on edge as she couldn't wait to see what her foster son was up to. Hiashi sighed next to her, for he should have been used to her antics since long ago.

Whatever the case was, he decided to wait here along with her, knowing that his daughter would be taking the exam too. Even though Sahana could be quite the rude fellow, she was still a pleasant person for him to pass time with.

XxxxX

Naruto's mind was reeling with the implications of what he had to do to pass this exam. He was fully aware that this restrictions where for his pleasure and his pleasure alone. And his mother's too, of course.

"So this is what an academy looks like from the inside, huh…?" he whispered to himself as he stepped inside the corridors which seemed wide enough for three or four people to walk in a vertical line in. The place smelled strongly of wood, chalk and ink, all these mixed in with various scents, making it really complicated for his sensitive nose.

It was a given to have this many smells in a building where people went in and out on a daily basis. But that was a fact for another day.

His classroom, where the examination should be taking part today, was on the second story of the building. Class 3-A, if he remembered correctly. Step by step he was brought closer to the destined place. Children rushed about him, very few older than him, most younger and cheery. Some paid some heed to him, others wouldn't care for his presence, yet none questioned him for being there.

It was at times like these that he felt like a normal human, which in essence he actually was. No stares, no hate, no love, he was just one teen walking amidst the crowd, a piece of the grand puzzle.

While some would be terrified at the thought of being part of a mass, it somehow felt comforting to Naruto. He liked to stand out, but only when the moment was right. He was his own person, he had his own thoughts, his own feelings, and at the same time he was part of a grand picture.

So it felt right. It felt cozy to be able to walk alongside other people, alongside other souls and other thoughts, other dreams, while still being an individual. The idea of the mass was only for people who had no willpower to go beyond it, thus they where ruled by it.

Out of his philosophical reverie he was as he finally saw the classroom that he was supposed to attend today. He snickered to himself, for he would be an actual, official student for only one day. It was weird in a way.

Other people stepped inside the same classroom, he saw. A girl with blond hair wrapped in a high ponytail, a thin, curved figure and light green eyes. Her clothes where all purple and the high tank top along with the short shorts where quite revealing, a daring choice of wardrobe for such a young girl, yet her bitchy personality, which he guess that was this way because of her yelling to the boy next to her, would leave little room for someone to question her fashion sense.

The boy next to her, of whom Naruto only caught a glimpse of for the two entered the classroom, had his brown hair caught in a pineapple ponytail and a lazy look in his eyes.

It would be of little profit to stand here anymore though. Not warranted attention was not his style. He slowly stepped towards the door, casting his eyes towards the windows on the other side of the corridor, watching as the wind blew at the trees right outside, the leafs dancing in such a chaotic motion that it _almost _seemed synchronized.

He couldn't stop being amazed by small things such as this. He found that small habit of his to be quite fulfilling in the small moments of his life, and he never stopped being appreciative of what little beauty the world could give him every now and then.

The human soul was indeed a mystery.

Sliding the door open, he was not surprised to see that not even half the class was assembled yet. It was expectable, seeing as it was still quite early. Only the duo he saw a few moments ago, along with a boy brooding in the middle lanes, where there.

None of them paid him any heed, and he was glad that it was so. He didn't want people freaking out at his presence.

Not yet.

Deciding it wiser to sit away from the blonde banshee, he walked towards where the lone boy sat. He could by no way see chakra like a Hyuuga or an Uchiha could, but Sahana had taught him the difference in chakra pressures from various people. The duo on the back seats had a fairly weak pulse, while the boy sitting alone had an admirably stronger one.

With a small, almost tiny grin, he went to sit next to that boy. There was no particular reason as to why he chose to sit next to him and not simply take one of the numerous vacated sits. It was just that compel for mischievousness that all children had. The boy over there gave off dark vibes, as if he didn't want anyone to get close to him.

Naruto liked to annoy people. Always with good intentions, of course.

That's what defined his cultural personality, after all!

As he went to sit next to the boy, he couldn't help but notice the crest on the t-shirts' back that the boy wore. As he was hunched over with fingers interlaced and chin rested upon them, it was easily visible from a higher point of view.

'_An Uchiha...? I thought they were extinct!_ _No, Kaa-san once mentioned a survivor…' _so this was the infamous remnant of what was once a great legacy of this village huh… Not much to be impressed by. Yet again, he doubted the boy, seeing his general posture, was social enough to score a big-shot tuition from some of the stronger shinobi in this village.

Naruto sat beside him, mimicking his posture down to the last detail, even the scornful stare that seemed to burn holes in the wall before them. Must to his credit, the Uchiha didn't spare him more than a glance before he returned to the recess of his cryptic mind.

They both sat like that in silence, the only sounds audible being the bickering blonde and the boy next to her who tried to keep the conversation as normal as possible. From early on Naruto noticed that the girl was quite infatuated with the Uchiha next to him. That _almost _brought a grin to his face, but he held it back, intent on keeping this posture up if only for his own strange satisfaction.

If the Uchiha was intrigued by Naruto's façade, he didn't look the part. He kept staring off into space with a dark look on his eyes as if he had fallen into his own deep trance.

Soon the class began filling and Naruto's presence earned more than a few stares, as he had become more noticeable, not so much because he was new to the class, but more so because he was sitting next to Uchiha Sasuke, the father of all brooding techniques and the top student of their class.

Despite the turmoil around him, Naruto didn't flinch from his position. At some point, the Uchiha closed his hands, bend his fingers to rest them, then resumed his previous position. Naruto was copying him with the difference of a split second, and that only because he had to look at him from his peripheral vision. Again, the dark boy didn't care.

Lively chatter had filled the whole room in a matter of half an hour, and Naruto had to comment the boy next to him for not even flinching during the whole ordeal. Neither blinking.

Or maybe Naruto hadn't seen him blink. It was a mystery.

He couldn't help but notice a few of the students that seemed to fill in and stand, in their own unique way, above the rest.

One interesting piece was a pink haired girl with a temper born in a volcano and an infatuation for the Uchiha next to him as big as a mountain. Did the boy had a fan-club or something?

Another one was an Akimichi, a… 'well endowed' boy with spirals on his cheeks and a bag of chips in his hands that seemed to be never-ending, as was the munching coming from his mouth. It was easy to spot one of his clan. They were the only shinobi in Konoha who where fat! Though if you told them that, you would be on the floor flat…

That rhymed.

The last two that seemed to stand out was an Inuzuka and an Aburame, both bearing trademarks of their respective clans, the tattoos under the eyes for the Inuzuka and the dark glasses along with a heavy raincoat for the Aburame. Indeed strange clans with strange habits.

The Aburame was stoic and rarely spoke, and if he did so it was in intelligent vocabulary and in a low voice. Even so, the counterpart of his personality, the Inuzuka, was by far more lively with his classmates, along with the small dog that rested on his head most of the time, which barked at some comment of his every now and then.

Another interesting piece of meat was the class clown, something that from what stories Sahana had told him, always existed in almost every class. It was a boy with short brown hair and a grin that could split his face.

Well, maybe he called himself clown, but all he did was make a fool of himself and throw lame jokes around, along with minor pranks, like a paper-airplane thrown on a girl's head or putting chalk above the entrance to fall on the next unsuspecting victim.

Said victim had walked in without a care in the world, probably _she _too lost in thought. The chalk found its way on her head and as the whole class laughed a little, most of them good naturally, it was then that Naruto's attention was piqued at the entrance. The Uchiha's was too, if only for an instance that he dared spare to the real world.

If Naruto was flabbergasted at the sight of her, he did a damn good job not showing it. The only thing from him in her direction where his eyes, which, in recognition, twitched.

The girl took the chalk off of her head and wiped her hair with her free hand, a pout on her cute face. She had dark blue hair, as a unique a color as pink could actually be, which fell to and right above her shoulders. Two stray bangs framed her features and a dark blue shirt that was a little big for her adorned her torso, the symbol of the Will of Fire on each shoulder. Baggy pants miraculously hang well from her waist down to her ankles, while her feet where clad in standard shinobi sandals.

The oversized clothes made her look so… _small._ So weak and tiny, a creature that one would _want _to protect on sight.

The _perfect _deception.

Yet they looked good on her too. Her small face looked much cuter in such big clothes.

Did his heart just _skip _a damn beat?

What really caught his attention though, aside from her frame, was her eyes. Those lavender pools that where a tell-tale sign of the Hyuuga clan. She was part of Uncle's clan, yet her eyes, so different from his, where so… reminiscing. A bell rang somewhere inside him that he had seen these eyes before.

They where warm… full of merit, curiosity, forgiveness, always smiling… that's what her eyes were like.

She walked past him, sitting next to the duo of banshees who seemed to have a close friendship with her, Ino and Sakura as her names seemed to be. He couldn't hear what they were saying, he was too shocked to see her again, too intrigued by the coincidences of fate to comprehend that the girl of all those years back was now standing, talking, breathing so close to him.

He had promised her he would return… Should he call on that promise now? Should he make a ruckus? Was it worth it?

Yes, it would be worth it. But unnecessary. He took a deep, calming breath, closed his eyes, and exhaled, letting all the angst fly with that small gust of air. The boy next to him noticed the change and Naruto grinned slightly, if evilly at him.

If he noticed, it seemed that he was paying attention.

"All right class, it's time to start!" a man's voice called from the desk in front of the classroom. Naruto was taken aback for a small moment. He was so focused on that girl's presence that he missed the man's entry entirely.

The class didn't seem to give a damn about his call.

The man coughed.

"SHUT UP!" he bellowed as his head enlarged to scary levels, a simple yet practical genjutsu. Naruto and Sasuke didn't even flinch.

The class now seemed to give a damn. They were as silent as a grave.

The man nodded in satisfaction and began to call in absences. There wasn't one person missing, seeing that this was graduation day and all.

"Yamanaka Ino…" the blonde girl rose her hand.

"Hyuuga Hinata…" to his ultimate surprise, an occasion that seemed to happen two times within less than a minute because of that girl, Naruto slowly turned his eyes towards the back, where the trio of females sat.

Sure enough, the only Hyuuga of the class rose her hand in silent confirmation.

Naruto began sweating… the girl he had promised to all this time… she was Uncles' daughter? The heir of her clan?

Of course he knew about her. Hiashi didn't lose a chance to mention her, full of pride, whenever she came up. It seemed that after his wife's death, meaning, after he finally got over it almost a year later, he had began training his two daughters with renewed vigor, but with less authority and roughness than he would have if he was still scarred by his love's loss.

It seemed that Sahana had somehow managed to make his soul a little lighter, thus bringing more light to the souls of his daughters…

It was freaky how chain reactions worked.

Not letting the stun of the moment get the better of him, he continued on with the creepy gaze. His muscles where getting sore, and he found it amazing that the boy next to him could sit like that for _hours. _

"Uchiha Sasuke…" was the final name in the catalog and the dark haired boy next to him rose his hand silently and slowly, then put it back in its righteous place under his chin. Not a sound escaped from him.

Naruto didn't fail to notice that his name was not called. Yet that was to be expected. He wasn't a student here. The teacher over there was probably already informed that he was here only for the exam, which would make it ridiculous if he was absent on the only day he was supposed to be here.

Many students didn't fail to notice that he was mimicking the Uchiha next to him with almost ridiculous efficiency. Yet, with the dark vibes coming from the duo, no one dared to come up and call him on it. Yes, Naruto was even mimicking the murderous stare.

"Alright class, today, we have a newcomer as you may have noticed." The man called, indicating towards Naruto.

"He has studied the ninja arts in a foreign village…" he said as he flipped through a few papers "And, as his family moved into Konoha, decided to graduate here." Was all the summary that the man gave.

"Please welcome him warmly." He said, still rifling through papers, not really noticing the awkward silence that was reigning over his class. Naruto hadn't slipped from his posture for a second, intimidating anyone, even the girls, from getting near him.

"Alright class, it's time for the first of three exams! The written tests!" he said with cheer as he finally found the papers he was looking for. With practiced ease, the man threw one paper in front of every student in the class, a trick that many academy instructors would learn.

By applying chakra on the paper, it became heavier, thus more easily throw-able. It made life a little easier.

Naruto stared down at the paper in front of him, which the teacher with miraculous aim had managed to slip right between his elbows. He looked at the questions and was surprised to see at how ridiculously easy a test it was.

"_To what use do Shinobi bring the substitution technique?" _one of them asked. Naruto took up a pencil from his pocket and wrote down;

"_To use the logs that remain after the technique for campfire." _ He could have thought of something stupider, or cleverer, but he was in no mood to tarry longer than needed. The real challenge, would be to find someone to steal the answers from.

It was a known fact that failing even one of the academy exams would deny you the hitai-ate.

So, Naruto had to decimate someone to get through this. Of course, it would have been much easier, and probably much nicer, to just finish his questions correctly and turn the paper in.

But where was the fun in being nice?

He continued answering his questions in the stupidest way possible, while being on the look out for a possible victim. The Uchiha next to him was out of the question, he looked nothing like a moron and would easily realize the trick. He needed someone simple, an idiot.

The trio of girls behind him where not a choice too, for none of them looked stupid enough to not realize that something was wrong. He _could _probably pull it off, but it would be hard.

'_There.' _He thought, the perfect target. The class clown, the boy he had previously seen, was clutching his head in despair, not having even picked up his pen. His answer sheet was empty, exactly how Naruto would want it.

Having already finished answering his questions, he looked for the teacher. The man was watching them intently, his eyes tracing back and forth on the classroom.

Pretending to scratch himself on his legs, Naruto quickly did one-handed seals with his concealed hand. He pointed innocently with the pencil towards the teacher, directing his genjutsu to strike a single target instead of a whole class.

After a few minutes, the man slowly yawned, bringing a hand to cover his mouth.

_Perfect… _

He thought, smirking. Shinobi didn't dispel genjutsu if they didn't know they were under one. Naruto had cast a very weak one on the teacher, making him feel just a little bit tired and sleepy, if only so that his attention could be weakened.

When the teacher began yawning again, Naruto poked the failing boy in front of him.

"Hey, here, all the answers you'll need to pass. Trade papers?" Naruto said, yet the boy was disbelieving for a second. He smiled and with the hand that held the paper out, cast another tiny genjutsu to his target, making him lessen his defenses by making him trust Naruto just a tiny more bit.

Before the teacher could open his eyes from the yawn that overcame him, they quickly switched papers when no one was looking. They both made sure that not a sound was made.

'_Everything's going according to plan. Hehehe…' _while the boy would fail with the wrong answers Naruto gave him, while not being the wiser in the least as he trusted into a stranger, Naruto would simply write the correct answers down on this paper. He had not written his name down on the paper he had given the boy, which would mean that the paper would fail anyhow, and since the boy would have no paper with a name on it, he would fail entirely.

Even if he _had _written his name in the paper he had given to Naruto, it would be a simple procedure to erase the ink with a small lace of chakra and write his own name down. And, to make sure that if his mother looked at the papers at some point, he would not write in his own writing style.

Using his left hand instead of his right, the letters where much more clumsy and didn't look like his regular style at all. It took him time, but he eventually wrote all the correct answers down.

He wrote down the fake name he was supposed to have in the academy, so in essence, he had given someone his incorrect answers while taking his correct ones. No one would suspect that this clumsy writing style from a guy named Zaki would actually belong to Namikaze Naruto, who had actually written this test.

It was a truth within a deception. Exactly how he liked it.

Well, it didn't go exactly by the rules, but creativeness is another useful tool for ninja.

As the writing exam came to a close, Naruto smirked at the happy smile the boy before him gave to the teacher as he gave him the paper. It was a simple and boring procedure to watch everyone give their papers in. He yawned.

"Not even a day in and you're already making someone miserable." The boy next to him said in a small, even tone. Naruto, not very surprised, turned towards his 'classmate' with content, a shrugging expression on his face.

"I think us two would make a great team. You know, deceiving grannies in giving you lollypops, I could steal something, give it to you and accuse you for the theft, fun stuff, you know." Naruto said conversationally. The boy smirked.

"You sound like a team player."

"The only good thing a team is for, is covering fire while you do the job."

The boy looked at him sideways.

"You don't look like the evil part." He pointed.

"You don't look like the stupid part." Naruto said with raised eyebrows as he sat up from his position, leaving along with the others for the taijutsu test. The Uchiha sat silent for a few more seconds, before he too, with a smirk, left the classroom.

XxxxX

The backyard of the Academy wasn't something to be amazed at, but it was still where they would hold the next test. Students piled up until the teacher, who Naruto had discovered that was named Iruka, told them to line up and he would call out the pairs that would spar.

Fifteen minutes later, Naruto saw many parents walking in and standing at the sides, away from where the 'arena' was. The blond easily spotted Sahana, who grinned widely at him. He returned the gesture, while not failing to notice the face of his uncle.

He was looking towards the pale-eyed girl of his class, Hinata, with a mixture of a warm and prideful smile. Hinata was smiling back.

He fidgeted in place, thinking whether or not Hiashi had talked to her about him. He knew that his presence, his very existence, was confidential, but she was the man's daughter. He might have told her, even remotely, what he looked like, what he was like.

Hiashi was good at keeping secrets, but still…

Naruto was scared. Terrified. And he didn't even know why. He wasn't ready to deal with relationships in this village. He wasn't ready to make friends here, get to know someone. Not when he hadn't been here for even a month.

Having feelings could be so damn uncomfortable… worry was one of the few things he hated. He hated having to worry.

"…to." Maybe if he was just given some more time to adjust…

"Naruto!" the instructor named Iruka called. Naruto was surprised to hear his real name being called, but after seeing that the teacher betrayed no expression other than a curious eyebrow towards him, he let a small sigh of relief escape him, for the man hadn't realized his identity.

He wasn't the only 'Naruto' on the continent, after all. Sarutobi had informed him that there were at least five or six more people registered in Konoha with the same name.

He stepped forward, noticing that all eyes fell on him as every student stood curious as to how the 'new guy' would fare. Naruto was skinny and didn't look like much of a fighter. His slightly baggy clothing concealed any muscle that could lie underneath, hiding evident potential.

"Jirou Kenichi." A boy twice his size stepped forth, a grin, as smart as a mopping stick, on his chubby face. From the moment Naruto saw the boy take a single step, he knew that he could never be a ninja. Not with this body. Not with this mind.

Most of the students began whispering, and with his enhanced hearing, he could listen to them as if they were talking out loud, clearly and vividly.

"Ji has been the worst bully in the academy for years. Poor kid's in for some pain."

"The fatass will only have to sit on him and it'll be over." Giggle.

"Kick his ass." Naruto was surprised, for the last comment, in a whisper, had come from the ever stoic Uchiha. The boy was leaning on a tree, head bent downwards and hands crossed over his chest. While no student other than him watched, he did let a tiny smirk grace him.

Naruto grinned widely. This was going to be so much fun.

As the chubby boy stepped forward, obviously not an Akimichi, he looked down at Naruto as if he was gazing at a small child that was up for some spanking. Smugness seemed to radiate from his every pore.

"This is all I get, a wimp?" he said as if incredulous. Naruto paid him no heed as he set his eyes in examining his foe.

If everything went well, this would be over in ten moves.

"Do your best, Naruto!" Sahana shouted and the students began a small upheaval in anticipation to see what skill the boy would demonstrate. The woman grinned widely, waving her hands and showing her 'son' the victory sign.

Jirou didn't fail to notice the gesture, nor the smile that Naruto had thrown her way.

"That chick with the purple hair your mom?" he asked, gaining Naruto's attention.

"Gee, ain't she ugly. You grew up with that kind of slut? I'm so gonna rape her in a few years and have you watch while tied to a post!" he laughed, thinking his verbal abuse to be smart. The few students that stood close enough to hear made grimaces of disproval, not only for the nature of his words, but the lack of any honor that confined in them.

Sahana was the only one to notice the change in the atmosphere, for everyone else was excited with the match. Hiashi noticed too.

The air around Naruto seemed to have picked up and the woman, having acute senses herself, had heard, even through the ruckus, the insults that the fatty had thrown on her son.

She smirked.

The boy was in for a _lot _of awful pain.

Naruto looked up from the ground, his eyes set on his opponent with a grimness that only a seasoned warrior would notice. Then, in that tranquil moment…

Killing intent seeped from Naruto towards the boy. Enough to suffocate an animal. Enough to make sane people turn on their heels and run, hoping he would not be behind them when they turned around.

The boy froze, cause even through his stupidity, he could feel it, the desire to kill, maim, slaughter. It radiated from the blond in nauseating waves. Naruto's eyes turned red, blood red, his fangs grew and his hands became deadly claws. The light of the sun drained from the world and an ominous shadow grew.

Evil glee took over Naruto's features as he seemed to count off in his head in how many ways he could possibly kill Jirou, slowly and painfully.

Sweat formed on the chubby boy's brow and he began trembling. His… his opponent was a monster! The shadow behind Naruto grew, vaguely taking the shape of a fox with blood red eyes, which laughed maniacally in an unnerving cackle that reverberated into the hollow darkness.

And then, with the blink of an eye, everything was back to normal. Naruto was just a kid staring at him in wonder, the small crowd of students cheered, the teacher waited, the parents watched.

"Begin!" Iruka said and Jirou looked down at his hands. Was this all a bad daydream? Yes, it should have been. It was probably something he ate.

Picking up his bearings, he set the smug smile back on his face and prepared to charge the blond headfirst, the only way he knew of fighting someone.

Sahana shook her head. If there was one thing that made Naruto flip, it was insulting the people precious to him.

And the boy just had to go and take that road. Now, he would be lucky if he wasn't crippled from what was to come.

As Jirou charged, Naruto set himself in a basic sparring stance. Legs spread slightly, hands in fists up before him, he set his gaze to his opponent. In this spar, only taijutsu and weapons where allowed. Everyone was standing, of course, a good deal away, so that the chuunin around would easily catch dangerous projectiles.

The boy neared and cocked his fist back. It was as if Naruto saw him come in slow motion. It made him want to yawn.

But he wouldn't be so nice.

"Eat this!" Jirou bellowed. Naruto dodged backwards, agitating the boy. He kept dodging and dodging, and his opponents' fists, from very early on, became slower and slower.

When Jirou was preparing his last charge, Naruto got four kunai out from his pouches. Instead of drawing one of his own to defend, Jirou stupidly set his hands before his face, trying to cover it and leaving every vital spot of his body open for being hit.

Naruto simply tossed all four kunai up and high in the air.

"Come on, fatass, is that all you got?" he provoked. Slow in both body and mind, Jirou ignored the kunai that had flown up high.

"Stuuupid, your aim sucks! Time to end it!" he charged forward and aimed his fist at Naruto's head.

In that split second that their eyes met… "I really hope one of them misses and kills you. Honestly." Naruto whispered as his eyes turned blood red. Jirou had no time to pull back.

A kick from Naruto's foot found his square in the chin, sending him in the air and easily breaking said chin, despite their difference in mass.

Composing himself in the horse stance, Naruto took a step forward while his hand was an open palm at his side.

This punch took a lot out of his arm, but it was literarily, a killing blow.

His hand shot out fast like thunder. At the last possible moment, as the tip of his fingers touched his opponents chest, he closed his hand into a fist, concentrating all the pent up power in his shoulder and muscles into that simple speeding fist, making the explosion of sheer muscle power tremendous. (A/N: This is a real punch taught in martial arts, and believe me, it hurts. But it's difficult to master.)

It was obvious from the kicked up dust and the fat boy being sent flying backwards, rolling time over time and finally landing with a thud right on his back, the air knocked out of him. His hands and legs fell to the ground in an open formation.

With a whistle, the kunai that Naruto had previously thrown landed. Each kunai in each limb, with such velocity that the boy was practically embedded on the ground. The lack of air from him hitting his back chocked the screaming. Instead, he coughed up blood, and a few teeth. He didn't seem able to breath well.

Every single soul right there and then stood stunned at the combo of moves. In three swift moves the blond had incapacitated his opponent easily.

The silence was broken by the same blond.

"His ribs are broken and he'll choke on his own blood unless you sit him up. Maybe his stomach ruptured too. Get him to a hospital before his pathetic life ends prematurely." Was all he said as he stepped back towards the line of students. Most of them seemed to fidget nervously, as he was still radiating a pissed off attitude.

Sasuke was the only one still smirking.

Iruka was stunned. He would have probably called the match after that punch, but he hadn't imagined that the previously aimlessly thrown kunai would prove to be so accurate. There was no rule against harming one another, but that was only because the chuunin usually stopped the match before a serious injury could occur or the students just wouldn't be strong enough to inflict said injuries.

Naruto, in the span of two seconds, had blown that boy to smithereens. And he wasn't even trying.

"Get a medic nin here! Quick, we need to get him to a hospital!" he yelled and another chuunin stepped up to help the now crying boy with the most pathetic expression that he would probably ever make in his life.

Naruto hid his satisfied grin. His expression betrayed nothing as his fellow 'students' trembled at his side. He did not care that he broke his personal rule in this spar. This guy deserved it.

No one insulted kaa-san.

"I do believe that he went a little over the edge." Hiashi commented as he stepped next to Sahana, both of them observing the scene.

"He never had family." The woman answered with a small smile, proud of her son.

"The term 'family' is a very precious thing to him. He'll do everything to protect it, even childishly going overbroad for someone who doesn't deserve it…" she sighed.

"Naruto just… loves his family." She sent a pointed look at Hiashi. The man shook his head with a small smile on his lips, clearly remembering the many times the blond considered him as his 'uncle'.

He wouldn't openly admit it to Sahana, but he was proud of Naruto's skill too, almost as if he was his own son. The many occasion on which he had spent time with the boy had made him grow on him too. Naruto just seemed to have that effect on people. He had that something that made you want to get close to him.

Well, that didn't really apply to the people he disliked. All they ever got was almost always a fist in the face.

After another ten minutes of deliberation, cleaning, and hauling the boy to the hospital, Iruka had composed himself enough to return to the testing. In that time nearly all the students were already going on in discussing about this new presence in their midst. Some despised him, some idolized him, and this wasn't even the beginning of it.

The rest of the fights were quite uneventful and, in many cases, one sided. The most promising students of the year, all from various clans, had passed this test with flying colors, while many of lesser birthright had failed.

Iruka, all the while, could not keep his eyes from darting to the new blond. The boy was now obviously hiding a set of honed skills, an art too refined for someone as young. It scared the Chuunin, yet it also gave him a glimmering light of hope for the future of Konoha.

As the Uchiha finished off his opponent with a quick kick in the abdomen, he walked off back into his line, not bothering with formalities, not caring about the welfare of the defeated. They way he stood next to Naruto didn't go unnoticed by most.

"You're trying to steal back some glory huh…?" Naruto commented coolly and casually, as if pondering his own thoughts.

"I can't steal what's already mine." Sasuke replied evenly. No further conversation was made after that.

Regardless, the restless Iruka was impressed, and shocked, that Sasuke had actually spoken to someone on his own accord…

Just how many mysteries hang around this blond boy?

XxxxX

"I hate this place." Naruto declared to the open air around him as he gazed down at the students in the yard, who restlessly did some last minute training. The teachers had given them half an hour of preparation before the ninjutsu exam began.

There were three possibilities; Bunshin, Henge, and the replacement technique, all of which were a fling of the finger for him.

In conclusion to these grand circumstances, Naruto was _bored_.

As he tried to think of ways to spice up these boring procedures, he idly noticed the presence that stepped up behind him. He smiled, but didn't turn around.

"You know you have to do better than that to sneak up on me, Kaa-san."

As 'she' poked him on the shoulder, he turned around with a grin on his face.

His mouth hit the floor when he saw Hiashi.

"What the fuck?" the Hyuuga gave him a small smile as he stepped towards the railing to look down on what Naruto was observing. His daughter was among those students who did last minute exercises.

"You'll be surprised at how well a little perfume can confuse an opponent." He said, not looking at the blond. Naruto's heart was beating fast, because a few seconds ago, for a crazy moment, he had thought that his mother had turned into Hiashi from some freak henge accident.

"Wait, you stole her perfume?" the idea of lord Hyuuga sneaking around stealing women's perfumes was incredulous, and immensely amusing. Hiashi was not one to give quarter though.

"More like, she let me borrow it so that she could snap a picture of your expression." He pointed to the nearby roof of the building, where Sahana grinned and thumbed up, a camera in her hands.

Naruto sighed "Why must I be tortured so…?" he asked no one.

"Because the photo albums need food too, Naruto." Hiashi answered as if it was the most natural thing to say. Naruto sighed again. He would never compete with these two, would he?

XxxxX

While the academy was indeed, boring as hell, Naruto had finally come up with a few tricks to pull on his examiners. He did not like the students and they apparently did not like him in return. Most feared him, others loathed him, yet a good portion of the girl population seemed to adore him. Something about, 'being able to kick so much ass is cool'. Which, in essence, was true, as long as the kicking had valid reason behind it.

He had no real reason to nearly kill that boy, but the fact was, that he didn't care. His mother was the most precious person in the world for him, and he would die first than let her name be blemished. It was his own tribute to the woman who had taken care of him in the past six years and had helped him rise as an astounding shinobi.

He was not surprised when, after briefly locking eyes, she seemed to hate him too. As he stepped into the classroom, she was already there. He went to take his seat where it was before, next to the Uchiha who had yet to come, and in that brief moment that their gaze met, Naruto's heart made a pang.

The small frown in her brow and the demeaning gaze she gave him let him understand that she wasn't very fond of him at the moment. She was probably the 'upholder of justice' type, the kind of human that preserved truth and honesty and all those rainbows and sunshine.

A familiar feeling hit his eyes, the kind was wet warmth that overcame them whenever they changed into their crimson color. While he could do it at will, it could also be triggered whenever he was under any kind of emotional stress. It was bothersome at times.

He quickly rose his hood to hide his eyes, sitting down with his head bowed, presumably in thought or trying to fall asleep.

He never noticed the flicker of recognition that crossed the girl's eyes.

XxxxX

Sasuke, to the class's bewilderment, went to sit next to Naruto where he had sat before, resuming his usual brooding pose as the waves of fangirl's thrashed around him. The tiny crowd dissolved as the two most ferocious banshees of the group began quarreling over ownership of the Uchiha, the 'fore-head' girl Haruno Sakura and the 'pig' Yamanaka Ino. He idly noticed that only the blonde was from a prestigious clan, while Haruno was the name of a simple merchant family here in Konoha.

Naruto this time didn't care to hold them back with his K.I. He merely sat there deep in his own thoughts, his eyes still shadow cast to hide his turmoil.

Why would she hate him? He had done nothing more than to uphold his mother's honor. Weren't Hyuugas a clan obsessed with that kind of shit?

He should try to talk to her, maybe she remembered him still. But no, that would serve no real purpose. There was nothing that could be and would never be between them. He was an assassin and she was the princess of a great clan, he was the monster and she was the beauty, figuratively speaking.

He didn't like this village very much to begin with. All that he ever knew here was pain, suffering, coldness and hate.

He owed them _nothing_.

"Naruto!" an instructor with silver hair, Mizuki his name he heard that it was, shouted and he perked up. He willed his eyes to turn back to their cerulean color as he looked the instructor in the eye. The man didn't seem fazed by his gaze. Good.

He stepped up and put his hood down, not daring a look behind him at where the Hyuuga girl sat. He faintly noticed that he had been deep in thought for quite a time. Most of the class had already been tested and had left the room.

As he entered the class at the other side of the corridor, Mizuki went to take his place next to Iruka, who was checking over some papers.

"Alright, N… Naruto, yes." The man seemed bewildered at the name, probably for the meaning of fish cake that it translated into.

"We want you to do a Henge for the ninjutsu test." Iruka said, putting his papers down and observing the blond intently. Naruto grinned widely, like a carefree idiot.

"Can I henge into anything?" he asked, still grinning. The instructors cast a curious glance at each other, not entirely understanding what the blond meant.

"Uh, sure, as long as it's human." Iruka said, motioning Naruto to begin. The boy grinned as he placed his hands in the normal Ram seal.

"Henge!" and with a small puff of smoke, the transformation was complete. When said smoke cleared, both Iruka and Mizuki where struggling to force their chins back in place.

"Ne, Iruka-sensei, is this…" he motioned to his body seductively.

"O-k-ay?" she/he pouted her lips slightly.

Iruka and Mizuki struggled to force a growing erection down, telling themselves again and again that _this _was a student, a child, AND a male.

But damn was it a hard job to do so.

The henge was undone and Naruto was laughing loudly, not able to contain it anymore. That was when the instructors understood that they had just been pranked. And the worst of it was, that it was a legit prank. Naruto had done the henge, as they had asked.

He had passed and embarrassed them at the same time.

Iruka cleared his throat "Quite the daring choice, Naruto. Why would you think that you have passed with this trick?" he asked, seemingly trying to unnerve the blond. Mizuki knew that he was just trying to save face.

Naruto stopped laughing and grinned at them. He started counting on his fingers;

"Let's see, I did the Henge right, and not only that, but changed the gender too, I took you both by surprise and could have killed you right there and then while seducing you, and above all, I succeeded in what the Henge is truly made for."

He looked up at them.

"Deception."

Iruka actually smiled at the boy.

"Well done, boy. You seem to have the most promise of out of all of _my _students. I'm surprised you even had to take the exam in the first place." He said while writing down at some paper.

Naruto's grin vanished.

"Wait, you mean that it's not necessary to take this exam to be a Konoha ninja?" he asked, and both men looked at him questioningly.

"No, not really. As long as you have the skills and the Hokage allows you into the shinobi force via recommendation of a high-class ninja, you can be a Konoha shinobi without this. Didn't you know that?" he asked.

"Well, that usually applies for rogue ninja who are recommended into the force. And you seem too young to have been rogue, why not take the exam?" Mizuki added and shrugged, as if Naruto's question was a child's quarry.

The blond realized then and there that, albeit all his cocky remarks about deception and the such, he had just been _had _big time from his very own mother and uncle.

"Congratulations Naruto, you are now a Konoha shinobi." Iruka said as he signed a paper, took a hitai-ate with the symbol of the Leaf out of a drawer and tossed it at Naruto. The blond caught it mechanically, not really listening to the teacher.

He limply stepped outside, leaving both men baffled. Weren't students supposed to be cheery at this point?

Strange kid indeed.

XxxxX

"You fucking tricked me!" he raged.

"Wasn't it a fulfilling experience though?" Sahana said, she and Hiashi sipping on tea simultaneously, as if being long prepared for this.

"Fulfilling my ass! All I did was sit there and take stupid exams!" he retorted. Sahana eyed him for a second.

"You cheated on your written exam, nearly killed a kid, and then made the instructors look like total perverts." She put her tea cup down in exasperation "Gods, what can possibly satiate your adventurous needs?" she mocked. Naruto's eye twitched.

"I don't know. Maybe the usual rescue mission? Or an assassination? Maybe a search and destroy! Anything other than this!" he said, pointing with his hands towards the academy behind them. He hadn't expected that Sahana and Hiashi would have been sitting on this small café just outside the academy, let alone drink tea together!

Tea!

"I know how you feel. Buuut, there is only one mission that suits you right now in the records, and I don't know if you would reaaaally wanna do it. You know, it's the usual boring stuff, search and capture a high value target, you understand right? Boooring stuff." She said, slowly stirring her cup.

"I'll take it! Whatever it is! Just bring it on!" Naruto said with determination, resting assured in his skills.

Sahana turned towards Hiashi, seemingly in thought. Naruto couldn't see the most evil of evil grins that was plastered on her face at the thought of what surprise was in for the young blond.

"Tou-san?" a soft voice said from behind the ruckus the duo made. Hiashi, all along in the sidelines and calmly sipping his tea with exercised ease, such ease that one would think that he was a master in this aspect, was actually waiting for his daughter to show up.

Naruto of course didn't know that.

This reunion should be interesting.

"Yes. How did you do, Hinata?" he asked calmly, hiding the small smirk that was trying to creep on his face. The girl proudly presented the hitai-ate of the leaf that hang from her neck. She didn't seem to notice Naruto staring at her with an agape mouth.

Partly for she had a cute smile, partly because _he _remembered and _she, _he thought, didn't.

Naruto mentally slapped himself. Since when did he think that girls could be cute? …

"Splendid indeed. I watched your sparring match. Your stance needs some more balance, but other than that, it was a good performance." He said, keeping a smooth conversation with his daughter after that over what she should get further training in and what her strengths seemed to be.

"Psst, Naruto. Eyes. EYES!" Sahana whispered loudly to the blond. Naruto was shaken out of his trance, noticed the feeling of the red chakra assaulting his blue eyes, and hid them with his hood.

It was with that motion that Hinata really noticed his presence, for she was too focused in having her proud moment next to her father. When she turned to take a good look, he had already slipped his cowl on and only his chin, mouth, and an outline of a nose where visible. How he could see under that was a mystery.

Hiashi noticed his daughter's distraction and decided that this was the moment.

"Ah, Hinata, let me introduce you the son of a very close friend of mine. This, is Sahana Uzumaki's son, Naruto." He said. Naruto blinked wildly. Sahana had never told him that her last name was Uzumaki! Or wait, Hiashi was probably making it up. Yes, that had to be it, it was the most logical assumption to make. He would inquire on the subject later.

The girl stepped in front of him, a quizzical, judging look on her face.

"What?" he whispered, not letting her catch a glimpse of his eyes. Hinata was tempted to look at his face with her Byakugan, for he really seemed to want to hide something over there.

Regardless, she bowed slightly and announced herself.

"I'm Hyuuga Hinata, nice to meet you." She said politely and with a small smile. She could see him smirk under his hood.

"It would be nice to meat you too." He said and Sahana burst out laughing in their own private joke. Hiashi didn't much as bat an eyelash, but that was in his nature.

Hinata, on the other hand, had a confused look on her face, not really understanding what he meant.

But again, she had a feeling that this meeting meant much more than what met the eye…

And when it's a Byakugan eye, you know it's big!

XxxxX

"**So, my bad for not updating as soon as I'd have liked, but you know, being taken down by sickness, having the odd job here and there, beginning my driving lessons and my first year of university, it makes for a cute schedule all in all =)" I said with a smile as I looked over some papers.**

"**I always wonder if I'll get cursed if I ever delete this Fanfiction account… yet again, I love having people enjoy my stories, so that's very unlikely to happen." I grin, set the papers aside, and cross my hands one on the other as I lean back in my chair.**

"**Scars…" I began "is supposed to be a story about… Scars. Traumatized lifes that in one way or another will rise to bring out good people." I stopped a moment to think.**

"**Yet again, not all scarred humans find redemption. Some will fall in the abyss, others will rise and become something more. I want this to be a realistic story, as much as it can be, so rest assured that there will be tear jerkers, or at least, I'll try to make them as such. I'm not very good at this kind of thing…" I fidget nervously.**

"**For example, the last chapter scene where Hiashi cries his heart out, is the first Scar that is healed through Sahana's tenderness (what little she has at least). That was a try at a tear jerker, yet I'm not sure how many of you found it dramatic, or even managed to tear up (I for one did)." I sigh, preparing to conclude a rather long A/N.**

"**That is all from me for now. So,**

_**Hinata gets to meet Naruto one more time but under more peaceful circumstances. How will the blond react, what will be the outcome of their first encounter after six whole years? Does Hinata even remember that boy from all that time back…?**_

**I love narrating. God.**


	5. Chapter 5: White Lies

_**Scars **_

_**Chapter 5**_

_**White Lies**_

Ever wondered what it would be like to have siblings? Someone to share a playful time with, a family member that you would look after or he/she would look after you? It was an ideal relationship found slimly, if never, in any family. She found it as no surprise that her circumstances weren't as unique as she once thought.

Hinata sighed as her sister ignored her once again. She had simply wanted to strike some conversation with the girl over how was her training going, yet Hanabi was very much occupied with a butterfly that fluttered around to answer her big sister.

It wasn't always that Hanabi ignored her. But if the girl wasn't in the mood, she wouldn't give Hinata the light of day unless need be. It frustrated the girl that her little sister would pay her this little an attention. Weren't siblings supposed to stand for each other, help each other out and the such? What was wrong with her family then?

Neji was the one relative her age that didn't seem bored to death with talking to her. Or, more precisely, he was the _only _relative her age. All her other cousins were either much younger or too old to pay her any heed. The young kids were too absorbed with themselves or their surroundings and the elder ones simply had lots on their mind.

Neji was one of the few that understood her. But, maybe that was only because he was a first cousin, not a brother. She wondered what it would have been like if Neji was actually her brother. He would surely be the next heir, that's for sure, for his talent suggested not otherwise.

She once asked Kiba for advice on the matter, and he told her to simply let it be. He had the exact same relationship with Hana, he being on the 'little' brother side. He reassured her that Hanabi loved her, but was too young still to express it. Hana once told him that he wouldn't open up to her at all before he turned a little older and wiser.

A part of her found the words 'wise' and 'Kiba' to be so wrong when placed in the same sentence.

Regardless of her rebelling sister though, Hinata had thoughts around her own world that compelled to be indulged. Like that blond boy.

He had arrived in the academy the very day of the examinations and sat there next to the infamous Uchiha like he belonged in that classroom. No one paid him much heed and she chose to do so as well, not seeing a good reason to befriend someone who had just stepped inside the picture.

He had such strange cerulean eyes… yet when she stared into them, he quickly turned away. She did catch a glimmer in them as he turned around, but that could simply be a play of the light, nothing more. She had been _very _tempted to use her Byakugan and see what was hidden underneath that hood of his.

During his match with the bully of the class, Uruk (irony), he had at first exhibited a relaxed demeanor. She could get no offensive vibe from him, it was if he had come fully prepared for this match, come victory or loss.

But when his opponent offended his mother… yes she had heart, everything changed. Maybe the others didn't notice as much as she, and for God's sake she didn't understand why she had felt it so strongly, but malice and the intent to kill, a thirst for blood, had taken over him. And it wasn't the childish kind of anger that most boys her age should exhibit.

It was cold, calculative rage. Every strike he dealt to Uruk was prepared and honed, down to the detail, before it was executed.

It made Hinata shiver that someone her age was capable of something like that. It made her feel cold and sick to her stomach. The feeling of wanting to seriously harm someone was just so alien to her…

But seeing it in action was so much worse. Uruk was basically decimated and nearly killed in only a few seconds, for the sole reason that he couldn't keep his mouth shut. It was… painful, to see someone get hurt so badly.

Was this what she was in for when she signed to be a Shinobi…?

As grueling as reality could be, she did not want to step down on her standards, on her own sense of justice. What the blond boy had done was wrong, regardless of reason or provocation that had occurred.

She had seen him there with her dad, and that other woman that seemed to be his mother. She held her mouth, eyes, and ears, focusing them on her father, as she stood next to the blond boy, who seemed, even… afraid of her?

No, it couldn't be that kind of emotion. But something did seem to unsettle him about her presence. She decided that ultimately, it was of no importance anyhow.

Today was the day that she would enter a team and begin her career.

Today she could begin marching down the path of her dream.

And even today, he was still there, just… there.

Standing far away from the rest of the students, in a corner by himself, leaning against the wall and playing with a straw in his mouth. Most of the others around were nervous, excited even, yet he seemed bored to the bones from this situation. She frowned slightly, not entirely understanding why someone her age wouldn't be excited about finally becoming an official ninja.

Or maybe… he was not an official ninja…

Strange thoughts began crossing her mind as she sat on a bench a few ways away from the blond. His nonchalant posture screamed 'boring', as if he didn't want to be here in the least.

Was he even really a native of this village? Was he even a member of Konoha in any way?... maybe he was a spy, searching for information on Konoha! A ruthless assassin with no thought of human life! An opportunist, as his match showed, who would take on the chance to maim what could one day be Konoha's military future.

Smart move, whomever put him here. She had to comment his employer on the greatness of the sinister thoughts these actions carried, as well as the practicality.

But… what if she was simply over thinking this, resulting in ridiculous conclusions…?

Nah…

"Hey, Hinata!" Kiba jumped into the scenery suddenly, making her jump out of her skin, and musings.

She calmed down with a few deep breaths, while Kiba waited for her to recuperate, a wide grin on his face. "You're such an easy scare." He commented, while she glare at him.

"And you are such a _prick_." She shot back, yet the boy, not at all insulted, only laughed.

"So, why have you been staring at the blond menace all this time? You wanna be a part of his fan club?" he asked, quirking a suggestive eyebrow. Hinata nearly gagged at this. Part of his what?

"Fan club?" her perplexed expression showed that she really had not noticed at all. Kiba sighed.

"Watch." He said, pointing towards Naruto. At that moment, as if nature was perfectly in synch, a strong wind blew and the straw that loosely hang from Naruto's mouth slipped away, while his mane of a hair was ruffled by the lazy breeze.

"Ata!" they saw his lips form as he grabbed the straw in mid air, then turned it a few times in his hand, then finally put it back in place.

Squeals rivaling those of an Uchiha fangirl erupted in the air and both observers turned to see a group of girls who, from a distance, were swaying as if dazed by a radiant light. Hinata found it in herself to not gag.

"Fangirls? Seriously?" she asked, turning to Kiba. The boy shrugged in response.

"They have gathered like a crow-storm right after his taijutsu match. I'm telling you, the guy must be experienced in this! Look!" he pointed towards Naruto, who, after noticing the herd of fan girls that prepared to assault him, swiftly, but maybe not so elegantly, climbed up a tree and jumped into an open window within the academy, effectively escaping them.

Hinata found it in herself to wonder at how he could do such tricks at such a young age… No genin of her year knew how to even walk up trees!

Kiba went on his way to talk to a group of boys, but Hinata didn't waver from her position. Her gaze was fixed on the blond, intent on discovering the mysteries that lied in his persona. What could he possibly be hiding…?

The bell rang, signaling that it was finally time. With much haste all the students began to fill in the building, eager beyond belief to see at which team they were assigned, to start their career as shinobi.

Naruto was still outside when the last of the students stepped in the door. He watched the clouds travel by for a few more slow minutes, before letting the straw drop from his mouth. How he missed the quiet home he and his Kaa-san had in the forest…

As he turned to step into the academy, the sight of a single person caught his eye, almost reflexively. He wasn't surprised to see her there, yet he was at the same time. Her pearly, lavender eyes watched him intently, unwavering, a frown on her brow.

She actually looked cute. While shooting death glares.

He dismissed her, laughing inwardly. What was she thinking about? That he was a spy or something?

As he entered the classroom once more, he found the seats next to the Uchiha occupied by ravaging fangirls, the heads of the beast being of course Sakura and Ino. While Sasuke sure didn't show it, it was visible on his stoic, emotionless expression that he was one step away from murdering everyone around him.

He now understood why the boy brooded so much. Having a fan club _sucked._

All eyes fell on him as he sat down on an empty seat, many curious, others fearful, others filled with worship. He hated having all the attention focused on him right now, but he found that ignoring them all did actually make him feel better.

At this very moment he kind of understood how Sasuke felt.

Not a few moments passed before he sat down that the Hyuuga girl stepped inside as well. Hiashi's daughter didn't spare him a glance, as most females in here did, as she stepped passed him to sit on her usual place. It was the last time that she would be here anyhow.

The way she had tied her hitai-ate around her neck actually suited her.

"Alright you troublemakers! Today is the last time of having me as an instructor! You better enjoy it!" Iruka said merrily and almost everyone groaned. The man laughed their nervous anticipation off.

"I get it, I get it. Let me introduce you to your new teams then, eager as you are…" he said, checking over the papers he held in his hands.

"Team 1 will be…" he began and names rolled in and names rolled out. Naruto knew that he would probably be placed around Team 5 and 10, seeing as most of the unskilled Genin were grouped early on.

"Team 7 will be…" they could have sword Iruka had cast a 'drum-roll' illusion.

"Uchiha Sasuke." The boy's response was an empty stare. To the wall.

"Haruno Sakura." Said girl shot a triumphant fist in the air, effectively yet accidentally, punching the girl that sat next to her. She didn't seem to notice her offense.

Iruka paused for a moment, his eyes squinting.

"… _The most awesome man this planet was ever graced with…?_" silence fell when a single hand rose among the crowd.

Naruto proudly rose his hand with a bored expression on his face, chewing on a bubble-gum. He chewed, created a bubble, popped it, then as if it was the most natural thing in the world;

"Present!" he announced and fell back in his 'I'm bored as hell' reverie. In truth, he was inwardly smirking at how he managed to change the paper without Iruka ever realizing. He just loved at how handy his stealth training was when it came to pulling pranks.

He looked around the class as everyone stared at him in silence.

"Just Naruto guys, please. I hate to garner all the attention." He stated and returned to ignoring them.

"Naruto." Iruka said, trying to break the strange atmosphere that had settled in the class. Most of the boys were snickering quite hard though…

"Team 8!" he announced loudly to get everyone's attention back to the matter at hand.

"Inuzuka Kiba!" the boy grinned while the little dog on his head yelped happily.

"Aburame Shino!" the mysterious fellow simply nodded his head in recognition of his name.

Iruka had paused again.

"… _Smexy devil…?" _the teacher looked up at Hinata, who, when she realized that he was referring to her, blushed furiously. The rest of the class stared at her.

Then, everyone as one, turned to stare at Naruto.

The boy blowed another bubble.

"What?" he asked with an incredulous look.

XxxxX

Since there was no real proof that Naruto had done anything, Iruka had let it slide, even though the last joke had left the Hyuuga heiress quite embarrassed, for she could hardly meet her classmates in the eye. Sighing, the man continued to call the teams.

Naruto was smirking like a demon within his own mind, paying careful attention to not let it show on his face, which was in fact, quite a hard thing to do. God, he loved teasing people.

He was also pretty sure that his eyes had began to turn crimson, but he kept that in check. It was in truth really annoying to always have to mind your mental condition so that others won't find out that you're a demon, but it was something that he would have to live with for a long time yet.

Indeed he could no longer be considered a simple jinchuuriki. There was no seal, and there was no bijuu. Yet Naruto had inherited the beast's chakra and power, meaning that practically, he now really was a demon, even though his human mind and soul were still his own.

He could sympathize with the demon fox every now and then. This bloodlust he felt at times was a very uncomfortable feeling to simply shrug off. Demonic chakra had it's side-effects.

He was lucky that Hiashi, the head of the Hyuuga, had been the one to tutor him. If it wasn't for that man now every Hyuuga in the village would have already noticed that he wasn't normal. The seals that Hiashi had painted on his body were designed to fool the Byakugan, seals that the man himself had created for his own reasons.

What a Hyuuga would see when he stared at Naruto's chakra would be a vivid, ocean blue, like any normal person's chakra. It made him feel more secure, knowing that his secret was his and his alone.

Well, the eyes were still a problem…

Hinata Hyuuga walked passed him, ignoring him to the best of her ability, resisting the chill that run up her spine the moment she felt his eyes sit on her figure. She didn't use her Byakuugan, but she was fairly sure that if she turned around, she would see him grin like a demon while mouthing a 'smexy devil' with his lips…

Damn, was she blushing again? Why the hell was she so distorted when it came to him? His teasing was probably getting to her or something…

Naruto felt disappointed as the few fleeting moments of her presence fell away from him, for she walked outside with her team and her sensei, leaving this classroom once and probably for all.

It was then that he noticed that his own team was the last to be there. He guessed that his sensei couldn't take more than a few more minutes, so he waited.

And waited…

And waited…

XxxxX

…

And waited…

"Fuck it!" he swore and sat up from the desk. It had been over an hour of him sitting there silently, Sasuke ignoring a pestering Sakura and the simple sounds of the village and/or other children that run around the halls.

Both of his new teammates turned to look at his as he stood, walked to the door, and leaned down to inspect the floor. He tenderly touched it with his hand, deep in concentration.

"… Dobe, what are you doing?" Sasuke asked, surprising Sakura with the fact that he actually spoke. Why did he talk to the blond involuntarily when he wouldn't even answer her at all?

"Preparing a surprise." Was all that Naruto answered. With a few more movements of his hand, he pressed on the wood at certain points, then stood up. He walked to the doorframe, and stepped on the floor board.

It shot up and he avoid it, glad to see that it was long enough to hit a tall person even. The weight of someone's body now would turn this board around and straight into their face.

But no, this would not be enough… He grinned evilly as more ideas streamed into his head.

He took the eraser of the chalk board, tied a string around it, then at the other end of the string he tied a small vial of fine dust. He removed the lead and then placed the chalk right between the door and it's frame, sealing it there until the door opened. Then, using a chair, he placed the vial on the top of the frame where it could stand.

This should be adequate.

He sat back down, only then realizing that both of his teammates where staring at him intently, then back at his contraption.

"I bet you two hundred Ryo he doesn't fall for that." Sasuke commented dryly, trusting in the skills of a jounin ninja. Naruto laughed.

"Deal."

Sakura felt left out of the party, but she decided to let it slide as she was too interested in what would occur next.

Without further ado, the following happened in quick succession.

"Hello team!" said a voice merrily before sliding the door open. The chalk eraser fell on a mane of gray hair that defied gravity, making them even whiter. The man was not surprised, but when the fine dust fell from the pull of the string, it made his nose itchy. Then, he sneezed like there was no tomorrow.

It was probably uncomfortable to sneeze with that mask on.

And, the cherry on top. While sneezing the man lost concentration, stepped on the loose board heavily, resulting in it strafing and hitting him square in the face.

The impact was probably enough to knock him out. It hit harder than Naruto had expected.

"That's what you get for running so late." He said as he neared the 'corpse'.

Yep. Out cold.

"You… actually knocked our sensei out?" Sakura asked as she stepped closer to the man.

"Dude, what the fuck?" Sasuke came up next, amused to no end that Naruto's prank had actually taken effect. It wasn't like him, but then again, not many people were up to par with entertaining him.

"The Ryo." Naruto said with a grin. Sasuke smirked back.

"Well deserved." He said, taking them out of his pocket and handing them to the blond.

"Wait, wait, wait! Our sensei is unconscious! What the hell are we supposed to do now?" Sakura asked, incredulously watching the two boys converse.

"Throw him in a pit and bury him?" Sasuke proposed. Naruto nodded sagely.

"Let's leave the head out." He added and Sasuke nodded in return.

"So that they can identify the corpse when they find it." He said and Naruto couldn't contain his laughter any longer. The Uchiha smirked and Sakura looked desperate.

"Wait, I think he's coming to!" she said full of hope, making the two groan slightly in response. The man slowly sat up, rubbing his head along the way.

"What in the seven heavens just happened…?" he asked no one in particular, dazed.

"You died and are in heaven right now. We are the three little angels that you're obliged to teach and care for." Naruto stated matter-of-factly. The man's lone eye gazed at him lazily, seemingly unseeing.

"I think I hate you." He said, pointing to the blond.

"And you." He motioned to the Uchiha.

"But I like you. Let's be friends." He said, smiling at Sakura who blushed, not knowing how to respond.

"Meet me at the roof in two minutes." He rubbed his nose, still feeling the sting.

"I'll get pay back for this soon…" he mumbled to himself as he exited the classroom.

"Well, that went smoothly." Naruto commented. Sasuke grinned slightly as he stepped outside himself, Sakura following suit.

As they assembled on the roof, the jounin was waiting for them, lone eye lazily watching them approach as he leaned on the railing. It would seem that he was looking off into space for most, but Naruto could _feel _the man glaring at him because of the previous prank.

It was kind of scary. Then again, jounin were supposed to be scary.

"Hello there!" the man actually smiled when they neared him.

"Please, take a sit. We are now going to introduce ourselves to each other. We're a team, and knowledge is power." He said, still smiling. Sasuke and Sakura found his demeanor friendly, yet Naruto felt a chill run up his spine. He knew this feeling. The man was cooking something up. And it was aimed at him.

He hoped it wouldn't be something sharp and deadly.

As they all sat in front of their sensei, Naruto immediately knew what the bad feeling was for.

The man had placed some kind of glue. On where he sat.

How the _hell _did he know that he would have sat there?

He tried to look unfazed, squirming lightly in his seat, trying to free himself. The damn thing was strong.

"You, the Uchiha. Tell us something about yourself." The man asked. Sasuke took his legendary brooding pose.

"Something." He said in a monotone, making everyone sweat-drop.

"Guess I'll have to lead by example…" the jounin said after the silent moment faded.

"My name is Hatake Kakashi, your jounin instructor. I like lots of things and I hate lots of things, one of them is you." He pointed towards Naruto. The boy grinned evilly.

Kakashi ignored it.

"My hobbies are numerous and my dreams for the future are none of your business." He finished. Then, he motioned for Sasuke to speak. Seeing as he had little option, Sasuke went along.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke." He started, and Naruto faked a fan-girl squeal, if only for the sarcasm.

"I like nothing and I dislike many things." He cast a meaningful glance towards Sakura, but the girl didn't seem to notice as she was too entranced with the coolness that his brooding pose oozed off. It was a side-effect Sasuke hated.

"My hobbies are mainly focused around training, and my dreams for the future…"

"Oh my God! You have dreams? A soul? We must tell the papers!" Naruto butted in again, acting as if this was the biggest news ever heard since Pangaea divided.

Kakashi and Sakura couldn't help a chuckle, yet Sasuke kept himself unfazed.

"No, they're not really dreams. It's more of an, aspiration…"

"Thank God, for a moment I thought you where human." Naruto relaxed back in his seat, as if content with how things rolled out. The others chuckled again.

"I aspire!" Sasuke said in a firmer voice, not hiding the annoyance anymore.

"To kill a certain man… and restore my clan." He finished but by then, the drama of his speech was ruined as Sakura and Kakashi kept chuckling.

"He's simply telling us he's going to grow up to be a fine ladies man…" By now the trio were all chuckling while Sasuke fought to keep himself from blushing. He didn't say anything else and let them laugh all they wanted. He would show them… just how serious he was about his goals.

One day…

"Alright, the smartass blond is next." Kakashi said as he motioned for Naruto to begin.

"You can call me Naruto. I like pulling pranks. I hate being the recipient of them." He cast a meaningful look at Kakashi.

"I'm a selfish bastard that will fight to the end for what I believe in and for those that I consider worth it. My open hand will reward my friends, and my closed fist will punish my enemies." He said with emotion. Kakashi whistled.

"Big words."

"I'll make sure to prove them at any chance." Naruto grinned, evilly once again.

"My hobbies include training and I love nothing more than relaxing and lazing around after a tiring day. My dreams for the future…" he seemed to think about it for a moment.

"… are to be the best in what I do." He didn't specify what exactly that meant, and left it at that. Kakashi nodded.

"Very well. Bubble-gum, give it a go."

Sakura was most eager to speak her mind. Or rather try.

"I am Haruno Sakura. I like…" she cast a longing look at Sasuke.

"Uchiha Sasuke." Naruto commented, but the girl ignored him.

"I dislike people who make fun of what I like." She now looked at Naruto.

"Which is Uchiha Sasuke." He answered back, not looking at her and relaxing in his seat.

"My hobbies are reading and watching…"

"Fawning over Uchiha Sasuke."

"And my dreams for the future involve getting close to…"

"Uchiha Sasuke. Big news."

"Shut up Naruto!" She yelled at him, raging. Naruto spared her a glance.

"It's not my fault that you have little more than the 'Sasuke' word on your mind. What do you see in him anyway?" it would be faulty to let her answer that question, for her fan-girl mode could be explaining for hours to no end. So he continued.

"I mean, he has less of a personality than a log." He looked at Sasuke, who seemed unfazed, then at Sakura.

"Well, I guess you do fit together." Even though it was an insult, Sakura did blush, while Sasuke turn his gaze from yonder to Naruto.

"Contrary to popular belief, I do have a personality, dobe." He said. Naruto sneered.

"If you consider the ability to speak to be a 'personality', then yes, you're a talking log. Congrats."

"It's not my fault that you're too stupid to notice my awesomeness." It was unlike Sasuke to joke, but it was like him to aggravate someone trying to insult him. It did seem to work.

So Kakashi just sat back and smiled as his new team began bickering over if Sasuke did have a personality or not. He enjoyed watching them quarrel, for even with insults, jokes, and statements floating about, it was a very good first step towards what a team was supposed to be.

He did enjoy watching his team bond, in their own way.

"Alright, alright, we get it, Sasuke is so good at stealth you can't tell if he's human or not, Sakura is a brainless fan-girl and you Naruto are an angel disguised as an asshole." He commented and they all stopped talking to look at him.

"You three all have one major problem each." He began, counting on his fingers.

"Sasuke, you are obsessive and you rely too much on negative emotions to guide you. You have to learn that life is more than just fighting for a goal. The means justify the ends is a lie. Like the cake."

"Naruto, you are arrogant for reasons I have yet to realize but soon will. Stronger or weaker, everyone has their value. Degrading them won't help them show it. Encourage your team-mates and get stronger together. No human can stand being alone. Or achieve anything at that." Naruto's expression sobered. As if a cloud was cast over him, he swallowed any retort he had prepared, instead casting his eyes to the floor.

He hated the memories he held, of all those years back…

"Sakura, you seem to lack a will of your own. Relying on others and admiring them for things you don't have is a good thing, but overdoing it ruins your ability to think for yourself. When the time calls for it, and your judgment is weak, you WILL result in killing your whole team." The girl seemed shocked.

"By that I mean that you have to get a brain, you a personality, and you, a good lesson." He said, pointing to each of them respectively.

"Meet me tomorrow at training ground 7. You are free to do as you like today, but be there at 8 o'clock sharp in the morning. Naruto, you stay for a few minutes longer." He ordered and Sakura and Sasuke nodded before standing up to walk away.

Sasuke had conflicted emotions, as he mulled over if it really was that important that he didn't like to socialize, while Sakura didn't feel like fawning over him so much anymore. She still itched to ask him out, but a big part of her felt ashamed to do so right after all the speech Naruto and her sensei had given her about being too reliant and rooted under Sasuke's shadow.

What they had essentially meant was that, Sasuke had to learn how to deal with people, while Sakura had to increase her self-esteem and by conclusion, her own free will.

"So, why am I left behind?" Naruto asked as his teammates moved away. Kakashi eyed him for a moment before making a seal with his one hand.

"Kai." He said, and Naruto immediately felt like he was not stuck in his seat anymore.

He was under a genjutsu all this time, and he hadn't even noticed.

"Fuck, you _are _good." He commented, grinning at his new teacher. Kakashi didn't seem all that playful.

"Normal genin wouldn't even realize this was a genjutsu and not a ninjutsu. Don't give me that look, I'm good at body language." He said at Naruto's awed, and slightly fearful gaze.

"I've heard of you… Trained by Sahana, the greatest assassin Konoha ever knew." Naruto grinned proudly at the mention of his mother.

"So tell me, what is someone like you, who has part-taken missions under the Anbu, a boy with potential and talent unseen after Itachi, doing here?" he crossed his arms over his chest. He recognized that Naruto was strong, he had read the reports, he had met Sahana. And still he didn't actually understand why he was placed in a genin team.

Naruto out-skilled and out-powered both his teammates by a great deal.

"They told me I have to socialize." Naruto pouted. Kakashi arched an eyebrow in surprise.

"You see, even as I trained with Kaa-san, being who I am, I had little chance to actually meet and talk with people. The only times I went to a public place was when uncle Hiashi took me along with him when he went for business meetings, or kaa-san went for groceries." He explained, not seeming to mind in the slightest that he told his story to a fresh acquaintance.

"The Jinchuuriki of Kyuubi no yoko. Of course, if you were kidnapped or killed for any reason, the demon befalling hostile hands would be catastrophic." Kakashi reasoned, but didn't understand Naruto's smirk.

"You see, _that's _exactly the reason why I was secluded. Everyone still thinks that I'm a jinchuuriki. But…" Naruto made a few hand seals.

"**Supress"** he spoke and Kakashi felt a slight aura envelop him. He cast a curious glance at the blond.

"That was a simple sealing technique to ward off my chakra pressure. Everyone outside a perimeter of five meters from here won't feel a thing of what I'm about to do." While 'Supress' seemed a very useful stealth technique, it had two major flaws.

First, it was a stationary jutsu, meaning that outside the small perimeter, others would feel you again. And second, the small pulse it sent off when it activated would give any experienced shinobi all the warning he needed to know that something was up.

Kakashi's eye widened at what he was feeling now. Something was building up in Naruto… something dark… and sinister.

It was his very chakra.

Red chakra began to seep out of the blond, who's eyes had turned a very deep blood red. His features began to change as he became more feral, with elongated fangs and claws as finger nails.

Then, Kakashi actually _felt _it.

An overwhelming pressure that could nearly choke him. Naruto released immense waves of power as his chakra flared around him in a scarlet inferno. Even in the middle of the day, darkness seemed to grow around the blond, hiding his face in the shadows, with only two red orbs visible. That, alongside the whirlwind of power around him, made a great recipe for a terrifying visage.

Kakashi, even though with all his years dealing death and receiving it, was actually afraid. And even that word seemed too small to describe what he felt.

"**See, Kakashi, I am not a jinchuuriki. I am…" **Naruto looked down at his clawed hand, his voice deep and dark, almost evil.

"**A real demon."**

XxxxX

**CLIFFHANGER! Well, I don't know if it really is, never was really good at this stuff. But what will Kakashi do now that he knows of Naruto's power? Does he really even grasp how strong the blond is, or does he underestimate it? Is he strong enough to level our beloved Naruto's ego, or will he have his ass handed to him?**

**Questions, questions, yet answers seem to fail us as we have to wait for the next chapter =)**

**With College and others things sitting on me, I have little time to write anymore. It's 4:30 in the morning as I write this, and I have to wake up early since I have a test for my driving license, so you can kind of understand that quick and handy my updates won't be ;p**

**Do not tarry over the fact if I'll continue this story or not. I know that I won't make this a long story and I have already thought nearly half the plot out. I'm trying to push this more towards the emotional, rather than the adventure/fighting type of story, yet I'm not sure whether I'm succeeding much in that or not yet.**

**We shall see what we shall see.**

**Till next time,**

**Yours,**

**HoNdeR All Mighty.**

**(Damn I missed writing that =)**


	6. Chapter 6

**(A/N): The story so far:**

An occasional beating from an angry mob turned bad, as Naruto's hatred and pain won over him and unleashed the sleeping Kyuubi. Slaughtering the mob, he tried to run away, the Hokage close in pursuit behind him. With remnants of the burst of power, he accidentally fell upon the kidnapping of one Hyuuga Hinata, changing fate as it was to be by killing the assailant and lifting the blame from Konoha, who accused a rogue ninja for the 'murder'. That chance meeting with Hinata left a soft memory in his heart, one that he holds very dear as on that night he promised her that he would become the Hokage.

As the Hyuuga clan who was on pursuit of the kidnapper neared, he fled the scene and struggled against the Kyuubi for dominance. There, sooner that it was meant to be, he met the man who had sealed the beast within him and together they took the monster down, letting Naruto harness its power from a very young age.

The Hokage and Hiashi, who appreciated the boy saving his daughter dearly, agreed to keep Naruto away from the village so that an incident like the previous slaughter would not occur again. Hiashi took the boy, after having found him unconscious and in a struggle to control the demonic chakra, and brought him to an old friend, Sahana, a renown assassin. Reluctantly the woman took on the role of Naruto's trainer and with time, the role of his mother. As the years passed Naruto grew stronger and Hiashi helped in his own way, becoming like family to the blond as well.

In the present, Naruto works secretly as an Anbu of the Hokage, honing his skills further. To become more socialized, his 'relatives' agreed to put him in a genin team, as was normally done for someone his age. Now, Naruto has to face a new enemy, one that is his very self, having to overcome the thirst for blood that Kyuubi's hateful chakra feeds him, among having to act like a normal genin in front of his peers and shorting out the situation of his promise with Hinata, who doesn't seem to remember him from that dark night…

**Scars**

**Chapter 6**

**Who are You?**

We all have our reasons for doing certain things. We all are evil and we all are good. In small matters or in big ones, one of the two will persevere most of the time. One of the two will dominate the other.

Yet they still exist in harmony. An ironic plight.

As Naruto gazed at his clawed hand, he wondered if this demonic power could ever be hosted into a noble soul. Was his body even worth such a divination? Could he ever become a good man?

He clenched this fist, _his _fist, which trembled with power. Power that was his to command. And with this power, he would bring change about this continent. A place were judgment was actually just and hatred didn't guide one's every step. He knew what hatred was… he knew what it felt like. It was consuming, and the vengeance that came with it was exhilarating, unyielding, fulfilling.

And yet so hollow.

Kyuubi's hatred, the might he now wielded, was nothing but a hollow shell…

So, he guessed, he would have to grow a soul to fill in this empty space. Sahana had always prompted him to punish the wrong-doers and reward those that he deemed that deserved it. His foster-mother hadn't explained to him though what trust meant. What it was like to feel close to another person, a person that was not a relative, a brother, a sister, a father.

Kakashi was a nobody to him and he still showed him this visage.

The eyes and the form of a demon he himself despised and loathed. He hated this power of his and all the while basked in it as well. It was vile and noble at the same time, strong yet corrupting, fearsome yet charming.

He knew without a shadow of a doubt that one day this power would consume him. But until that day came, he would be his own person and he would make his own deeds. He would change this world before he died. And if his dreams were to be ruined by such a pitiful thing like succumbing to his own strength, then he would sooner kill himself than shatter the pedestal of his goals.

So he stood proud and fearsome before his so-called teacher, not caring what Kakashi's reaction would be, but what his purpose. Would he run to inform the Hokage, gather allies and hunt him down, or simply stand and stare as he did now?

The aura faded from around Naruto like a passing by breeze, the darkness retreated and his features returned to normal. Only his eyes kept their blood red color.

"That's the power of the Kyuubi. A power I inherited." Kakashi seemed confused, but the initial shock and fear were already wearing off quite fast.

"Inherited? Are you a kitsune or something?" the man asked. Naruto shook his head.

"A leak in my seal caused the demon to nearly escape. I was enraged that night, and all I thought was about spilling blood and surviving…" he thought back to that horrid day with grim displeasure. While he enjoyed a good battle, what had happened back there was a butchery…

"The incident all those years back about a mass murder… was your doing?" Kakashi asked with a wide eye. Naruto nodded, then looked up at him, his red eyes serious and steady.

"They abused and belittled me. I was spat upon, kicked, hit, again and again and again until my legs were nearly broken… that night, I just lost it, and Kyuubi was there in the front seat row." He continued to describe how he escaped the scene and evaded the Hokage, killed a rogue ninja, and then fled to the forest, where he battled with the demon for dominance over his own mind.

And then came the dreadful, yet sweet memory, the only memory that Naruto held of what most people called family.

His crimson eyes flashed with emotion.

"I met my father that day… in that mental struggle, the seal broke. Kyuubi would escape, but we defeated him together. I don't remember how, I just remember that we did it. I… talked to him, Kakashi. I heard his voice, felt his touch…" the warmth of a father's love was something that Naruto dreaded that he would one day forget, so he clang to that memory with all his might.

"You control the demon pretty well with a broken seal." Kakashi commented dryly. Naruto chuckled.

"Will you let me finish? The seal was modified by my dad before he departed for the after life completely. It was a very weaker version, since he had not a whole soul to cast it again, so it was a hit and miss technique that made me what I am today."

"An asshole?"

Naruto squinted his eyes towards the man.

"You either shut up or I make you shut up." He rose a hand full of claws. Kakashi laughed before he allowed the blond to continue.

"As I was saying, I would either accumulate Kyuubi's power, or the demon would take over me. Now, the Kyuubi slumbers deep within me in the furthest vestiges of my mind. His soul is my only prisoner, while his power is now mine."

"So…" Kakashi began, seeing that Naruto had come to a close.

"Why did you tell me all this?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Being trusted was nice and all, but why would Naruto tell such a story to a man he had just met? How did he know that he wouldn't just give him up to the Hokage?

"Those gloves were a gift from my father." It was at that comment that Kakashi finally caught up. He had been too engrossed in the story to actually think for a moment just how the hell would Naruto's father be in the seal, let alone alter it too.

"Minato-sensei…" he voiced a slimmer of his thoughts.

"The metal placate on the back of the hand is imbued with his chakra and engraved with fortitude seals. You can even block a sword barehanded with these babies, am I right?" Naruto asked, grinning slightly. He was by no means well versed in seals, but the basics and some more were well known to him yet.

Kakashi nodded dumbly.

"So that means… that you're…" he whispered with trembling lips…

Naruto looked down sadly.

"Namikaze Naruto, sole heir and member of the Namikaze clan…" he said with a forlorn tone in his voice, as if he wasn't seeing in the present, but looking at something in the past, or staring blindly in the future.

Naruto glanced at Kakashi again. Minato's chakra was something that the blond would never forget, even if he wanted, for the very chakra had a very fatherly, familiar sense to him. Whenever he felt it in anything that Minato had imbued, it was as if Naruto had been together with that item for years.

And Kakashi certainly had a strange feeling about him… he couldn't yet place it, but for some reason he trusted this man.

"You were his student, or someone close to him, right?" Naruto asked. It would be strange for his dad to give such fine armor like these gloves to someone he didn't know. Kakashi nodded.

"I was a genin in his team when he was still a Jounin. When he was announced as the Yondaime Hokage I was already an ANBU captain under his service." He said in a hushed tone. Neither was looking at the other. They were talking to themselves and having a conversation at the same time. Neither found it strange.

A few silent minutes passed, and as if a trance was broken, Kakashi perked up.

"So!" he said with his eye representing the smile on his face.

"With only mild enthusiasm and mediocre anticipation, let's head to the training grounds!" he said and pointed towards the horizon, then proceeded to walk down the walls of the academy without a care in the world as he flipped his favorite orange book open.

"Training grounds? For what?" Naruto questioned as he gripped the railing and looked down at his new sensei who kept strolling on the wall.

Kakashi's lone eye turned to gaze at him quizzically.

"What kind of question is that? To test your strength of course!" he said and then jumped, becoming only a blur to most people as he went with top speed towards training ground 7.

Naruto smirked, gladly accepting the challenge.

XxxxX

It took both of them two minutes to reach the training ground. And considering that by walking pace it was half an hour, it was quite the speed trip.

None of them was even out of breath.

"In truth it's quite simple. Come at me with the intent to kill. Everything goes. We stop when either of us can't move, is incapacitated, dead, or defeated." He said, hiding his orange book and assuming a combat stance. His one eye still had a lazy demeanor.

Naruto grinned.

"Quite the bargain you are doing there… hope you're up to it…" and with a lick of his lips, Naruto was a flash.

Kakashi was quick to react and with ease he slipped out of the blond's way. Naruto's clawed hands were extended in the exact position that his gut and throat had been a second ago. Had Kakashi been slow and not on edge, Naruto would have seriously killed him.

He liked this boy.

He still kind of hated his personality though.

The combat continued with both fighters exchanging blows with rapid succession. Kakashi had to be extra careful because the claws could easily damage him if he blocked wrongly, while Naruto fought recklessly yet precisely, a combination of the berserk fury that was Kyuubi and the calm, calculative mind that he had developed over years of rigorous training.

Kakashi could hand it to him. Not many people were able to be on par with him in a straight taijutsu fight.

He had to see for himself though, what the son of a legend was capable of.

He flipped backwards and away from the blond, then his hands run through seals.

"**Doton: Earth Wall technique!" **  
>(Small note: I don't know the names of all the techniques, so most will be a combo of Japanese and English. I apologize beforehand to those that prefer full English or full Japanese calls. I myself prefer it this way because it's much easier to understand rather than having to look at the end notes for translations. It keeps you in the action ;)<p>

Hiding himself behind a wall of stone and dirt, Kakashi began weaving another set of seals. He traced Naruto's malicious chakra, careful to not let the blond ambush him.

And indeed, Naruto was coming from the side in an attempt to flank.

With speed and precision Kakashi jumped in the air and launched a fireball at the blond.

"**Katon: Gokakkyou no Jutsu!" **it hit straight home, something that bewildered Kakashi. Naruto had displayed more than enough dexterity to avoid that…

Then it hit him. It was a shadow clone.

Beneath him the earth trembled and claws rose to maim his legs. He jumped away in the nick of time yet again.

"Stop running around! Damn it!" Naruto shouted in anger, one of his claws dripping slightly with blood from the tiny wound he had inflicted.

"Is that all the Namikaze heir can show?" Kakashi taunted.

"Your father would have had greater expectations, no?" the man knew that it was a dangerous game to provoke someone with demonic powers, but he had to find out. What would Naruto be to this team? A blessing, or a catastrophe?

Red chakra blew up like a bomb around Naruto, and again, that unholy fear.

Kakashi's legs shook from his body's instinctive action to such an amassed K.I., yet his soul stood firm. He moved his bandana to uncover his sharingan, and gazed with wonder at the maelstrom that stood before him.

Naruto's eyes now had no pupils in them. They were pure orbs of crimson and shadows danced around him, obscuring him from vision. It was as if he commanded the shadows, as if daylight itself bent at his will.

Kakashi's vision was getting blurry, yet his Sharingan was keeping track of every movement.

"**You want to see my full power, Kakashi?" **the boy said in a dark voice that was not meant for young kids to hold.

"**I will show you… hehehe…" **Naruto chuckled with evil glee and at this moment, Kakashi knew, that it wasn't his new student that stood there, but a real, damnable demon.

The blond's body language held no signs of holding back. He was coming in and he was coming full force.

Two claws made of chakra materialized around Naruto. Kakashi dully noted that the world around them had grown a more reddish in color, the sky had grown dark and the clouds were crimson. His Sharingan could tell that it was a genjutsu, yet could not dispel it…

It took him half a second to see the claw coming for his head from a range. It took him another half to get the fuck out of there.

Kakashi was now focused in his fight as much as he could. He didn't see a glimmer of what his student was a few minutes ago. The maniacal, dark grin that had taken over Naruto's face was unsettling in the slightest, terrifying at best.

The claws kept coming at him in patterned attacks. A double attack from both left and right, a crushing fist from above and another after, a whirlwind of claw attacks, Naruto demonstrated a variety of ways in using his claws, even to grab onto things, to propel himself or even to defend. And all the while the maniacal grin and the darkness around him didn't budge. It was as if a shadow was haunting him, and all Kakashi could do was run, run, and run.

Then an idea popped in his head. If the boy was going all out, then so would he.

He ran close to the pond that was close to the training ground and still unscarred by the boy's rampage. With precision he made some hand signs and shot a water Dragon Naruto's way, not even bothering with shouting the technique. He had no time for idle talk.

As Naruto blocked the onslaught that was the watery dragon, Kakashi immediately went through hand seals again. His left hand crackled with electricity and he grabbed it with the right one to steady it, focused on his target, and charged at full speed with all that his legs could muster.

Naruto in the last moment noticed Kakashi's charge and knew from the start that dodging would be hard and blocking would be dangerous. So he did the simplest thing that came to mind.

He used the two apparitions of a hand to 'stand' in the air, avoiding Kakashi's attack and then touching down again, ready to retaliate.

What he missed was that the man's attack was never meant for him.

Kakashi turned and shoved his hand in the ground. The dirt had hardened from the heat of Naruto's presence, for indeed his chakra had an affinity akin to fire, so the water had created a small pond. A pond Naruto stood in.

A pond that would magnify the power and electrocute the wet demon quite well.

Sure enough, Naruto screamed in pain as the electricity coursed through his body. The few seconds he was stunned, for his chakra prevented him from taking any serious damage, Kakashi had found the time to come close enough.

"It's over." He said, holding his breath as his kunai pressed against the blond's throat threateningly.

Naruto's muscles were tensing for retaliation. A wild idea that Naruto would be fast enough to actually turn the tide here made him panic slightly, his mind going on overload as he calculated every possible movement.

And then… nothing.

The chakra resided, the evil aura gave way, and the shadows retreated as the world became normal again.

Naruto was grinning. "Relax, Kakashi-sensei. I got this."

"… You sure…?" Kakashi asked warily. Even though he wouldn't openly admit it, he was still overcoming the shock of having to battle for his life from one moment to another, with someone that could be as terrifying as this boy.

"What you saw is what I've come to call… my demon form." Naruto said as he turned around to face his sensei, his eyes fading into the cerulean blue that they usually were.

"You mean… it was intentional?" the man asked unsurely. How could Naruto summon such horror, was beyond him. After witnessing Kyuubi's rampage all those years back, the ugly scar of that night was more than enough to shake the veteran.

Facing Naruto today felt like facing his old fear of that day. It was liberating and damning at the same time.

"Yep. The darkness and all the crap you see are simple kitsune-illusions meant to intimidate. One thing Kaa-san taught me is that, fear clouds judgment. Use Fear, and the fight is as good as yours." Indeed it had taken Kakashi his all to focus on the fact that this was his student that he was facing and not some real… _real _demon. It had made his reactions dull and his resolve falter.

"Plus, I'm a good actor." He said, mimicking that maniacal grin from before that seemed so wrong on his face without all the demon stuff to go along with it.

Then the grin turned happy, expectant, and like a bouncing ray of light on dark waters.

"So… how did I do?" he asked full of curiosity. Kakashi sighed, shaking his head, still trying to compose himself.

This was a long day already…

XxxxX

Naruto walked the streets non-Chantilly, trying to get himself accustomed yet again with the streets of Konoha. Thankfully most people didn't recognize him, probably because of the lack of anything orange, and the fact that he wore a hood. Even those that seemed to have suspicions didn't call on them.

Somehow, Naruto loved and loathed these streets at the same time. It was a strange feeling. Here, on this very road, six years back, he had slaughtered a group of people for abusing him. This town… this village, it was the place he was born, the place his father died to protect, yet it was a hell hole to him, it bore the darkness and resentment of his childhood years…

He truly had no reason to serve Konoha. He had no reason to rise to its defense. The only man that Naruto cared about in this whole place was Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Hokage. Of course he did not forget the man he called Uncle, Hiashi, who had taught him many things, but that was about it. Sahana, his step-mother, held little real affiliations with this village anymore, aside from the occasional business.

So… for what reason was he really here? Was the Hokage hoping that Naruto would grow to love Konoha? He decided to go and ask the old man directly. He had little else to do during this day anyhow.

Plus he'd like to chat with his grand-father figure a little.

XxxxX

"Come in." the deep, old voice of Hiruzen spoke and the door opened to reveal a blond boy no older than thirteen. The Hokage smiled as Naruto entered his office, looking around as if inspecting the place for the first time.

"Nice working environment." Naruto said, looking around with mild interest. The Hokage chuckled.

"You have been here many times Naruto, cut the theatrics." He said with a smile. Naruto shrugged, then motioned towards the wall.

"I'll cut them if you tell your ANBU to step outside the room. I really need to talk in private." He said, intriguing the old man. Naruto rarely had anything to say or explain for himself. He was a secluded character, yet not anti-social.

"Very well." Hiruzen motioned with his hand and a couple of shadows seemed to move, a small rustle of the wind, and then nothing. The door didn't open, a single paper wasn't moved from its position.

"They've gotten better." Naruto commented as he watched the door.

"Indeed they have. You actually only saw one of them. The other one was hiding the other way. I can't have my personal guard be fooled and vulnerable, now can I?" the Chuunin that usually decorated the door outside the office was merely for shows. The men really entrusted with protecting their Kage were stealth specialized ANBU, chameleons that hid in his very office, in his very walls.

"I concur." Naruto sat down, not waiting for Sarutobi to follow the usual manners.

"Jii-san, I have a problem…" he said, his voice wary.

"Is it about the demon?" Sarutobi asked knowingly. The boy nodded.

"I had a spar with Kakashi today… I'm on his genin team, heh…" it was kind of funny, how from an ANBU assassin he was now a genin. No, wait, it was out right weird. But that was beyond the point.

"I let out my demon form and… let's just say that…" Naruto hesitated, and Hiruzen patiently waited.

"I nearly killed him. Well, I actually _nearly _wanted to kill him. Well… umm… this sounded better in my mind…" he looked down at the floor. Hiruzen sighed.

"So you have problems controlling the bloodlust that emerges when you fully utilize your power?" the blond nodded.

The man was skeptical for a few long moments.

"Do you retain enough humanity to control this, Naruto?" he asked in all seriousness. The blond didn't answer immediately.

"I don't know. Whenever I let my chakra, my power, set foot in my mind, it all becomes a weird mess. I know that I am myself yet… I don't feel like myself. I feel like a real demon…" Naruto didn't dare look at his Hokage.

"And I'm scared when I feel like I like it." He confessed. Hiruzen nodded sagely.

"I know the feeling of excitement and adrenaline born in battle. It can be… addicting, to some people, demons or not." He commented. There was no mortal who did not tremble at his first kill, be it excitement or fear. Yet Naruto was still a boy. Did he really have to experience this so early on?

Yes, he did have to. From an even earlier age. It was one year ago whatsoever, that the boy had his first kill. Ever since then, his demonic powers had seemed to tag more than ever at his young soul.

How could an old man like him explain the horrors that were brought with being a shinobi? What words could possibly describe this?

"What should I do, jii-san…? I'm beginning to grow afraid of myself… I fear… that I may hurt someone close to me, if this ever spirals out of control!" Naruto clutched his head as he fought to push horrendous images out of his mind.

"Kaa-san, uncle Hiashi, they trust me to keep the reins… but what if I can't…?" his voice and face spoke volumes of 'I'm too young for this shit', yet Sarutobi knew that whatever the age, this burden was a heavy one to bear, for any man, or woman.

So he did what he could do best outside of being a fighter. He gave the boy some advise.

"While the power you hold is tremendous, Naruto, you should have known from the start that with great power comes great responsibility." He sat back in his chair, watching the clouds drift by from the window of his office. An old, reminiscent feeling was tugging at his heart.

"When I first became Hokage… I was excited, ecstatic even." He confessed, chuckling to himself. The boy listened with focus, but he could not yet see the point that the man was trying to make.

"Things changed with time. When you become the leader of a village, you begin to realize that it isn't all that it is cracked up for." He continued. "While indeed the people hold you in great esteem and your title is feared across the land, these same people that praise you also have expectations of you. Choices you make will affect them all."

"For how many people do you think my words mean life or death, Naruto?" he asked. The boy, now a bit more understanding, shrugged slightly, his eyes glued on the man.

"Five thousand. Konoha is home to five thousand shinobi, less than a quarter of them being ANBU, men and women that you very well know, take on the hardest of missions." Naruto had been part of that group for a short time.

"On those missions, many a times, someone dies. So you see, me ordering them to take on a task may as well be an execution order. Many a life has been taken from this hand" he extended his palm "be it by blade or by order. So you see, my boy, we all carry our burdens. We all have luggage to carry through our life." He pointed at his temple with his index finger.

"It's called memories." He said. Naruto pondered the old man's thoughts in amazement. Never had it crossed his mind of how much responsibility a Hokage would hold, for it wasn't the people that served the Kage, but the Kage that served the people.

And that meant that all these people expected something from him. And truth be told, Sarutobi was one of the eldest shinobi in the world, considering that most ninja died at a young age, his parents included. Being an orphan wasn't an uncommon thing, Naruto realized.

Yet, the way the old man described him, it made Naruto's uneasiness feel like a pitiful thing before the weight of souls the Kage had to carry.

"Your burden is very much like mine." Once again, Hiruzen managed to surprise him. He turned with a questioning look towards the Hokage.

"You have a demon in you too?" he asked rhetorically, and Hiruzen laughed.

"No, no, but I have power. And that is a demon in and on itself." He said.

"You know, my boy, your father, Minato, was one of the strongest ninja to ever live. He once won a whole battle against five hundred men, all on his own. He was, by all means, invincible." He seemed to think about something for a moment.

"I'm very sure that he would have subdued the demon fox without having to give his life away. That much was his power. He didn't go into an escalated fight with Kyuubi though, for the collateral damage would be disastrous. The village would lie in ruins, and Minato loved this village. His home." Naruto huffed, wanting the man to get to the point.

Hiruzen smiled. He was forgetting himself and drawled on, in his old age.

"Sorry, sorry. Point is, Minato could have conquered the world had he willed so. Yet he didn't. He was content within the borders of his own home. He was happy to protect and sustain the peace of his people. He was a man that strived to use his strength to bring about peace, freedom, _humanity._"

"What matters in the end, my boy, is not how strong you are, but how you use that strength. And all you need to turn that strength away from the grasp of evil, is a stout heart and a tempered willpower. No darkness can touch you unless you allow it so. No wall can defy you as long as you let it so." Hiruzen was starting to feel like his speech had taken a too grandeur path for his liking, yet the awed expression of the boy made him feel less worried about being ridiculed.

Aside from the awesomeness of the man that he had come to consider a grand-father, Naruto tried to see the wisdom behind those words.

"So… in order to achieve anything, all you need is guts?" he asked, thinking hard on it. Sarutobi smiled. It wasn't a strange thing for a child this young to not understand such deep meanings.

"Not quite, but close enough. Train your mind and body, Naruto, and rest assured, the darkness you see inside you now will one day be a beacon of light for humanity…" _'At least so I hope…'_he added as a thought. Naruto grinned at him, not those disturbing, evil grins that he tended to give people, but an earnest, whole-hearted one.

Hiruzen smiled at him in return.

"Thanks ojii-san, I feel much better now." He bowed slightly to the old man, a small sign of his respect, and then vanish in a puff of smoke. Hiruzen laughed, having only just realized that this was a shadow clone all along.

That boy, trying to make his life convenient on all intervals.

XxxxX

It was a good day to be outside today, and even as dusk was beginning to settle, the streets of Konoha were even now buzzing with life. Winter had come, but then again, rarely did it grace the land of fire with snow. Naruto had seen snow only once in his life, a few years back when Hiashi had taken him to the northern parts of the country. The man seemed to enjoy having him as company when traversing the lands for business. Naruto wouldn't object whenever Hiashi came and asked him to come along. While the man seemed cold to people who didn't know him, he actually had a decent sense of humor and was a good conversationalist.

He was also a good father and a good uncle. While the Hyuuga clan head hadn't, and probably wouldn't ever, replaced the role of 'father' in Naruto's heart, he was maybe the closest thing the boy had to that.

Yet Naruto could never forget that fateful night when he met his real dad. He would never forget that soft smell of leafs and ash that Minato adorned, nor the twinkle of his eyes or the brightness of his grin. No story or extravagant praise about Minato Namikaze would replace that memory.

At this tranquil moment, Naruto could have honestly said that he was happy, a rare occurrence in his life. He slid his hood to cover his eyes, and while he knew that he should be annoyed that at any emotion his eyes would turn red, he didn't care right now. It wasn't a big deal, it wasn't something that mattered. All that made sense at this exact moment, was to keep the feelings born of that warm memory alive in him, for as long as he could.

It is prudent to say that such moods are easily ruined. That day he felt like he was the only one that felt that way, yet it was and is in every human being to have a fragile happiness.

"Find him! Find that brat!" he heard yells coming from the rooftops, and the tranquil moment was ruined from the numerous ninja that swarmed the area low and high. He grew curious for a moment, yet decided that it wasn't his problem. Someone had probably stolen something of mediocre value and an overprotective merchant put a tempting bounty on the thief.

"What is going on? Are we under attack?" a civilian stopped one of the shinobi to ask, mildly horrified.

The people around heard the question and instantly grew wary, knowing how dangerous such situations could be.

"Everyone! Calm down! We are dealing with a simple thief here! Something of value was stolen from the Hokage tower, but rest assured, we are already apprehending the culprit!" the man said, letting out a bit more information than what was necessary, but regardless the crowd did calm down as many sighs of relief were let out.

Naruto though, instantly stood on alert.

Stealing something from the Hokage tower was stealing something from the Hokage.

Which meant stealing something from his grandpa. Figuratively.

Naruto owed the old man a lot of things. It was time for a little that he repaid him a little. So without further ado he vanished, in the so favored shunshin that ANBU and jounin were akin to using.

Shunsin was a simple teleportation technique that carried the user at most fifty meters away from his current position. The only reason it wasn't a combat-deployable jutsu was that it required a tranquil state of mind to use, meaning that battle-born adrenaline could very easily disrupt it, making the user ram himself into a wall. If he was lucky.

The blond appeared on a nearby rooftop, secured his hood, and watched the shinobi run around. He decided to search another area, while making a few shadow clones who in turned transformed into various inconspicuous leaf ninjas, joining the rest of the force.

Naruto watched the sun set on the horizon, then turned around and walked towards the edge of the roof.

"Sometimes, I really hate being the good guy." And with his good mood ruined by obligation, he began jumping.

XxxxX

"Find him! Capture that traitor!" the yells of the shinobi where audible to him even from this distance. They made a big ruckus out of this, so it was probably some deep shit that the thief was getting into.

And a traitor? Someone from Konoha had stolen something from the Hokage? Who the hell was that stupid? But it didn't matter. Traitors were to be killed on sight, or be captured if possible for questioning. And considering that the interrogator was Ibiki, killing them was a _much _better option for them.

Regardless, Naruto kept searching, stretching his senses. One thing that Sarutobi had once taught him, was that all important scrolls, documents and items that lied within the Hokage tower, had a chakra-pulse seal put on them, a modification that the Fourth had thought up.

The scroll, if handled by anyone but the Kage, would pulse faintly with chakra, allowing anyone sensitive enough to track the trail that the pulse left. Most shinobi didn't posses the senses necessary for that, but ANBU and Naruto himself had been trained to be able to track it, to discern it from normal chakra pulses.

'_There…'_ he thought as he caught a slim thread of chakra within his senses. It was weak, meaning that the person who had stolen the scroll wasn't even of chuunin level. The pulse the scroll emitted depended on the person that stole it.

Bewildered that someone like that had stolen such an artifact, he pressed on to the area where he felt the scroll's call.

XxxxX

When Naruto arrived at the area he was stunned by what he saw. There, standing and trembling in the center of a small clearing, was a child not older than himself. The scroll lied sprawled near him, and even as the blond made his presence known, there was no reaction from the culprit. In the mid-darkness, the brown wild hair of the boy and his tattered clothing sparked a thread of memory from the blond.

'_Isn't that… the class clown?' _he didn't recall the boy's name, since he had met him only once and offhandedly, when said clown was making his antics at the classroom the day of the exams. How the hell did he steal that scroll… and why was he like that?

His senses picked up a sound from the forest. It could be ANBU, it could be anyone. The man or woman was disguising themselves pretty well. Naruto fled, hiding in the trees. With his eyes having turned crimson, he watched from a distance into the deep night as if it was the brightest day.

A man walked into the clearing. Naruto could have sworn that he had seen him somewhere before, but…

"Hoho, so this is what became of you eh? No wonder you were late, little fuck." The man said and his voice clicked something in Naruto's memory.

He kicked the unmoving boy in the guts, throwing him into the ground.

"What's this?" he asked no one as he looked over the sprawled scroll, unfolded to one particular technique. "The **Complete Darkness **Jutsu of the Nidaime? You truly were a stupid as hell brat, weren't you?" Naruto frowned at the man's words. That genjutsu was the Nidaime's most prized technique. The side-effects of misuse were, at the very best, life-bound blindness.

"No worries. I'll put you out of your misery. There's no turning back from where you already are, anyway." The man said as he kneeled over the fallen boy. He slowly took a kunai out of his pouch and, without mercy, slit the pre-teens throat. The boy didn't even convulse.

Naruto could feel his rage building up within him. If it wasn't for that bastard over there, that boy would yet live, he could grow up and have a happy life… or become a shinobi and ultimately die on the battlefield.

Regardless, Naruto was ready to pounce that bastard and rip his head off, more likely because he was a traitor than anything else. There was no saving that boy from the misfired technique. If **Complete Darkness **was wrongly executed, instead of the enemy, it put you in a world of utter darkness. In short, you would be in a coma for the rest of your life. Self-induced genjutsu of that caliber weren't disposable.

Yet just as he was ready to launch his clawed hand through the man heart, someone else decided to bust in and interrupt his fun.

"Hyuugas? Great, just great…" it was always such a pain to set up barriers around himself to stay invisible to the Byakuugan. Now he would have to do it even here. With a few hand seals and some concentration, he spread a thin sheet of chakra around his body to block the 'all-seeing-eyes'.

"Mizuki? What is going on here?" one of the Hyuuga asked. There were three of them, one of them being particularly short…

The assassin had tears in his eyes. Then it hit Naruto that he had just fucked up something, really bad.

"I found him sprawled over here just now. I managed to wound the attacker…" he showed them the bloodied kunai "but he run off in the forest." He faked a cry.

"Why…? Why him! He was such a good boy…" Naruto had forgotten that to anyone else, Mizuki was a regular chuunin still loyal to Konoha. It would fool these Hyuuga for a few minutes. He could intervene now, but… at this particular moment, the ghost-eyed men would think him as a threat. He didn't want to kill them. They were Hiashi's people.

He would rip Mizuki's heart out himself… but he had to wait until he revealed his traitorous self first.

"Let me check on that boy. Mugen, scan the perimeter. Hinata-sama, please stay with us." One of the Hyuuga said as he began to examine the corpse, Mizuki crying like a baby next to him. Hinata neared, watching the corpse with aversion, more towards the culprit that the image that remained itself.

Naruto's mind was overdriving. Mizuki was sure to backstab either the guard or Hinata herself, either of which was quite a grotesque outcome. He prepared a kunai and hoped that his aim would be true, readying himself to intervene.

'_Strange… there are no visible wounds on the boy, and the cut on his neck is quite clean… He must have been immobilized before being murdered.' _He gently closed the kid's eyelids, praying that he rested in peace.

'_Plus, there are no visible tracks of anyone approaching here other than Mizuki himself. And the secret scroll… that's the Nidaime's technique! So… the boy was the thief, but he was either conned into this or is a traitor himself. I can't know if the assassin is one of our people or a foreigner…' _the Hyuuga decided to stay wary of Mizuki, since all evidence pointed towards the man. The scroll was still here, which meant that the assassin's objective was still here, and he was quite sure that such a high-value item wouldn't be left behind.

Mugen was alright as he checked the area. The assassin would definitely return though to take his spoils. Unless he was already here.

He couldn't risk it. Hinata-sama was too valuable to be put to such meaningless risk such as this.

He turned around, prepared to immobilize Mizuki for better or for worse.

But he didn't make it. Before he could do anything, a kunai had already pierced his abdomen.

XxxxX

"Shit…" Naruto mumbled. By a stroke of luck, Mizuki had positioned himself next to the Hyuuga, and Naruto couldn't make the throw. Unknowingly the traitor had used the man as a meat-shield, and the blond didn't trust his aim well enough to take such a shot. He had to dive in, now, less Hinata was also killed.

Hiashi would never forgive him if he had a chance to do something, and wasted it.

Back in the clearing, all Hinata had heard was the slicing of flesh and a thud. She turned around and narrowly avoided Mizuki's kunai, now stained with two murders, which was aimed to her head.

"Tsk. Lucky bitch." The man sliced again but Hinata quickly recovered her bearings, falling back. She looked behind the traitor to see the body of her fallen bodyguard, and cursed herself for not realizing sooner. She dearly hoped he wasn't dead yet…

Mizuki grabbed a hail of kunai and threw it at her, poised to finish the heiress quickly. Without combat experience, it wasn't easy for a fresh genin to deflect this many projectiles.

So the girl preferred to roll out of danger. Her kimono was now muddied and would be probably ruined by the end of the night, but that didn't matter. She reached for her own weapons, but then remembered that she hadn't brought any. This was supposed to be a simple trip before the alert sounded and she ordered her guards to help her search. She wasn't prepared to fight a chuunin.

"Hinata-sama!" Mugen yelled as he run full force to intercept the man. Mizuki laughed as he threw a flash bomb on the ground. Such sudden lighting in this darkness was sure to blind even a Hyuuga, though surely for a short period of time.

"Now die!" Hinata dived to help her guard from being killed as well, the man surely blinded from the sudden flash. They avoided a fatal injury, but Hinata's leg was wounded.

"Oooh, lucky me, I sliced a tendon it seems…" true enough, one of her legs was unable to support her weight anymore, while it also bled heavily. She cursed her luck as she tried to force herself to stand, but her foot provided no support. She fell to the ground again.

"The heiress goes first. You can't imagine how many times I sat there, in the classroom, thinking about how I was going to gut you and take those prized eyes as an extra gift for the master… heheheh…" Hinata once again cursed herself and her luck for being unable to protect her clansmen, as well as putting them in such danger… in the end, for naught.

And then she saw it. A shadow, up in the sky. It grew bigger and bigger, and the only feature she could discern as it descended was a pair of crimson, bright red eyes.

Mizuki seemed to notice where her eyes were looking and heard the gust of wind from behind him. He quickly jumped away a split second before the figure descended and crashed where he was supposed to be.

As the dust cleared, all that Hinata could see of the figure was that he was not particularly tall, and that he preferred a dark colored attire. His facial features were hidden from a cowl, as a well as a leather mask. The only thing that was visible was the bridge of his nose, and blood red eyes that promised murder.

She had seen those eyes once… they reminded her of something… something important, from long ago.

"Who the fuck are yo…" before he could finish his sentence, the figure had already moved and descended upon him in a flurry of rapid punches and kicks. The chuunin had a hard time keeping up, while his opponent didn't seem to even try.

A kick found him solid in the abdomen, and Mizuki spat blood as he was thrown away by the force. But that wasn't the end of it as the assailant was quick enough to catch up, jump and land on him, all these while in mid-air.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as Naruto's hand extended, a blade appeared from within his sleeve, a bit longer than his hand but thin and sturdy, and in the moment that their descend began, the blade was already embedded in the traitor's neck. Mizuki couldn't even scream as his life's blood sprang from his trachea.

"There… drown in your own blood, a slow and very painful death. A punishment well earned for a traitorous dog." He said, keeping the blade in place so that the blood wouldn't overflow and Mizuki would slowly suffocate. With his spinal cord severed and his lungs out of oxygen, the man simply died, unable to breath, unable to move a muscle. A horrendous death.

Naruto turned towards the fallen Hyuugas'. One of the guards was still well in health and he would help Hinata. The scroll and the wounded one though…

As the boy neared, he bent towards the fallen one and checked his vitals. His bleeding had lessened and he still breathed. He would live, if he was taken care of swiftly.

"Who… who are you?" he heard a soft female voice speak and turned towards the other two, Hinata being supported to stand by her guard. Naruto chuckled, careful to change his voice as much as possible.

With his eyes no longer flashing the ominous red they previously had, they too were hidden in the darkness. Naruto was glad for the lack of moonlight.

"I am a simple shinobi of Konoha… nothing more and nothing less." He said as he closed and strapped the secret scroll on his back. He then picked up the quite larger man and hoisted him on his shoulder. It surprised both Hinata and Mugen.

"Don't you have a name…?" Hinata asked again, slowly. Naruto turned to leave.

"The ANBU will arrive here shortly. Tell them... that the Blade of Fire will return the scroll to its owner." And with that he was off, speeding towards the hospital to help the one that fell. A few minutes passed as Hinata and her guard remained in stunned silence, wondering if the specter that saved them was actually a human or their own imagination. Thinking back to it, it had all happened pretty fast. He had arrived, in a span of ten seconds killed the traitor, and without many words packed up and left.

ANBU appeared all around them, assessed the area, asked questions, yet Hinata didn't bother with their presence. While Mugen tried to explain what had transpired, all she could think about was the enigmatic man who saved them and held those so familiar red eyes…

XxxxX

"It is just like you, my dear boy, to go and stir things up." Sarutobi laughed as Naruto laid the forbidden scroll down. He had previously dropped the injured man at the hospital. Naruto smiled at the man.

"It was the least I could do for my Kage." Sarutobi took a drag from his pipe.

"Drop the formalities my boy, you're well aware that we are alone right now." He said with a smile, and Naruto returned it. "As you wish, jii-san."

"So, what did you tell the Hyuuga that were on the scene, Naruto?" Sarutobi was curious, as the boy wasn't particularly talkative with strangers.

"Nothing much. I did call myself the Blade of Fire though… pretty cool right?" he laughed and scratched his chin in embarrassment. Hiruzen couldn't help laughing along with him.

"An interesting title indeed. At least they won't question your affiliations…" The Hokage found it interesting too. Coincidence as it was, he himself had been thinking of giving his special assassination unit a name. Names tended to have power… to bring fear or joy, it depended on the meaning of the name.

Naruto was too young to take command of a whole unit yet, but he held no fear that the blond could be a good tactical commander in the field. His mischief and unpredictability made him an excellent covert operative.

"On another note, how was your first encounter with your new team, Naruto? Feeling socialized yet?" he said with a tint of sarcasm, knowing full well that the boy disliked the whole plan his mother and uncle had devised.

"It went... well, strangely. Kakashi is strong, albeit a bit carefree, Sasuke is a prick but that's not a large issue, and Sakura tends to be an overprotective woman with the things she likes…" he didn't address it directly, but it showed on his face that he was quite annoyed with his team. Except for Kakashi. He had proven his worth.

"I see… then you might be relieved by the news I have next." The man said as he fingered through a few papers, searching for the one he needed. After a couple of seconds, he found the paper and placed it in front of Naruto.

"It's a simple assassination contract. The Daimyo wants this man to vanish in the next couple of days." He explained in a vague manner. Contracts such as these were not to be spoken off. After the shinobi assigned to them had read the request, the paper was burned, nothing left behind.

"I see…" Naruto said, his eyes sucking in all information about his target.

"Name: Ahri Yuuki.  
>Location: Fire Capital<br>Hobbies: Gambling." He kept mumbling the rest of the info, then, when he was finished, used a minor Katon to burn the paper to crisps.

"Not an unusual target. But why me? Doesn't the Lord of Fire have his own people for such jobs?" he asked, glad to know that he was still on the job. He could use this mission as a temporary relief from his new team and… her. He wouldn't have to deal with those pearly questioning eyes for a little longer.

"This woman, is the Daimyos niece." The elder said, lighting up his pipe.

"If he used one of his own, one way or another it would spread. That woman is planning a coup against him and although she's family, he puts his country above all. If she were to suddenly rise to power the other countries would prey on us like hungry hawks on a rabbit. That woman has little to no political skills."

"So you're saying I have to kill her to save the country from a crisis, I have to do it quietly without even being seen, and if I'm caught I'll be executed to take the blame away from the Lord?"

"Indeed." The Hokage answered.

Naruto grinned, that mischievous, lusting grin that he always had when an idea dawned on him. A savage idea.

"Perfect." He said.

Sarutobi nodded. He had no doubt in his heart that the boy would succeed once again. He had been trained by Sahana, whatsoever. That woman was once known as a true Kage (Shadow). Even though everyone knew that she was working for Konoha, no one had ever caught trace of her to put the blame on the village itself.

Exactly how you can see your own shadow, you know that it is there, but you can't grasp it. You just can't.

"You are to leave tomorrow after you finish Kakashi's test. I have scheduled that you're normal, genin missions will begin next week. You have until then to finish your target and return, otherwise your identity might be compromised. Is that clear, Naruto?" The Hokage asked with unquestionable authority in his voice.

Naruto had that vulpine grin again.

"Sir, yes sir…" he said as he vanished into the shadows, his red eyes flashing before he disappeared.

Sarutobi sighed. The boy was his best assassin, but he couldn't help fearing that this job was taking a toll on the young lad's soul… He'd have to talk to him about that later on, when he returned from this mission.

XxxxX

**A/N: Next time, Kakashi's Bell test, Improved and Improvised! Naruto launches forward to another mission, yet an unexpected quest might compromise the whole operation! Will his soul stand firm or be devoured by Kyuubi's hatred? All that and more suspense to come =D**

**On another note, I haven't updated in a long time and I'm sorry for that, mostly to myself, because I really wanted to finish this chapter up and publish it, but so much work was in the way . My college is really strict with our assignments and I can't miss a beat, and even now I have some work-load to finish before I can start writing some more. Since things though only get more interesting in the next chapter, I'm pretty sure that I'll update much faster =)**

**Thnks to all my fans for their support! Remember: This story is only for you and me people! No one else!**


	7. Chapter 7 A Day in the Life

_**Scars**_

_**Chapter 7**_

_**A Day in the Life**_

Weapons… check.

Supplies… check.

Miscellaneous… check.

Everything seemed to be in order. Naruto looked up from his list of items, watching as the sun's gentle beams washed over a new day, a new beginning. It was ironic how such a beautiful sight echoed in his mind with the images of his first assassination, his first kill. It was dawn when he had ended his victim, and the first thing that the sun revealed that day to him was his blood stained hands. Naruto had come to terms with the sight of blood. It had become something akin to grass for him.

Common. And everywhere.

It would be stupid to think that if you cut a person he wouldn't bleed. It was like touching water and hoping it won't ripple. Whatever a shinobi's specialty was, blood would always be there. Killing was something that needed no thought, only reason.

Sahana had explained that very clearly to him. A kill and a murder were two very different things. Animals murdered. Humans killed. Simple as that.

He had been taught to not kill without reason. He was not allowed to raise his blade against anyone who hadn't done wrong to him or his family. That was the code he had taken upon himself, descended from his step-mother. Contracts and missions he would only receive from his master, Sahana, or his leader, the Hokage. No one else's orders mattered, no one else's reasons held ground. If he had a mission, he was honor bound to see it to its bitter end. Whether he lived or died, the loss of life was always bitter.

He sighed. Pondering on idle thoughts was good to kill some time, but he had an appointment to meet soon. Kakashi's test would take place in about half an hour. He hadn't eaten breakfast as advised, though that mattered little to him. He had gone without food for days at times in order to complete a contract. He had once hidden in the wall of a mansion for a whole day, unmoving. Inside that room the victim had let his guard completely down, and it was easy for Naruto to pop up, kill, and vanish through the vents. The most tiring thing about his job, in all actuality, was to have patience, to strike at the right moment.

Before long he had reached Training ground 7, where they were supposed to meet. He dearly hoped that this test wouldn't take too long of his time. He would have to depart immediately after they were done if he wanted to be on schedule. Failure in the slightest of things could mean his undoing, and that of many others in conclusion.

Sasuke was already there, laying down on the grass, enjoying the gentle breezes that came and went. Ten more minutes before their sensei was supposed to show up. Naruto was well aware of his habit to be late, but if today was one of those days, he would make sure that the man would pay dearly.

He had left an envelope outside Kakashi's door threatening to burn every last copy of Icha Icha Paradise that resided in Konoha should he be late today. The man should know not to risk Naruto's capability to deliver his promise.

"The early bird catches the worm they say." He quoted standing next to the Uchiha.

"Unlike you, I'm not interested in worms, dobe." Sasuke answered evenly.

"You do resemble a bird though. That duck butt haircut is certainly a lady-killer." Naruto sat down, watching the impassive expression of his teammate.

"If I wanted to look anything like a bleached bush, you'd be my idol." The Uchiha answered once again with little emotion. Naruto found it comical at how such good comebacks came out of such an impassive mouth. He enjoyed insulting and be insulted by Sasuke for a few more minutes, until Sakura came in the picture.

Kakashi had three minutes left.

Naruto sat up, not interested much in conversing further with Sasuke, since at everything that he would say, the pink haired girl would shoot in with an insult towards him. Instead he chose to occupy himself wish some stretches and warming up, to get the blood flowing.

There was half a minute left when Kakashi showed up, making the other two of the team looking at him with mild interest. Naruto's knowing smirk went unnoticed.

"Wow, you're on time!" Sakura commented on the obvious fact. Sasuke added no comment, while Kakashi only smiled at the girl, innocent as she was at the given time.

Naruto simply had an evil grin on his lips, one that went unnoticed by his teammates. Kakashi tried to ignore it, making sure that the couple of bells were well strapped on his waist before beginning to explain.

"I'm glad you're all here on time. As I said yesterday, this will be an exercise that is likely to push your limits, hence the probable throwing-up if you have eaten. The plan is simple. You have probably already noticed that there are bells strapped to my waist. Your objective is to capture them, mine is to defend them. Whoever has a bell at the end of this test is a winner and won't have to go back to the academy." He finished, crossing his hands over his chest and waiting for their reactions.

"Go back at the academy? But sensei, we've already passed a test to graduate!" Sakura argued with a frown. Kakashi smiled.

"Oh that? That's just a mock test to see whether you have the most basics of what it takes to be a shinobi. When you're out in the field, simple clones and academic knowledge won't cover your ass nor your life. Prowess, skill, determination and skills is what's going to keep you alive and the opponents dead. Each jounin sensei that takes on a team tests them the other day similarly to how I do now. The ones that fail go back at the academy. The ones that pass become real genin. So get your asses in gear and come at me with the intent to kill." And as he finished, he got into a ready stance.

All of his wanna-be students got into their own stances. And surprisingly for them all, it was Sakura who initiated the charge. Yet as she ran to throw a punch at Kakashi's face, she tripped over herself. The jounin, mindful of any tricks, decided to sidestep instead of intercepting her fall.

"Oh, and before I forget, you have until noon to get the bells. Otherwise you fail by default." And with that he vanished in a swirl of leafs.

"Great, now we'll even have to search for him." Naruto grunted, not liking to take more time that necessary to finish this task. He wanted to be done with it as soon as possible and go on for his mission.

Sasuke didn't help Sakura up, even though he approached her. The girl didn't seem to mind as his very presence was enough to cheer her up and get her on her feet with sparkles in her eyes. The boy himself regretted even having the thought of helping her, since the look she gave him made his stomach turn in unpleasant ways.

"Listen up you two. I don't have all day and the sooner we're done with this, the best it is for everyone. Best thing we can do against a jounin right now is set up traps and prepare a make-shift base before we go out to search for him." Naruto spoke coming closer to the two.

Sasuke frowned "Who made you the team leader?" Sakura nodded vehemently to support her true love, something that neither boy cared about.

"Would you like to go after him and get your ass handed to you Uchiha? Is that what it takes to get your ego in check? I'll gladly do that in Kakashi's place if you so wish." Naruto answered evenly, giving the other boy a blank stare. Sasuke only scowled, not liking the comments but finding truth in the fact that he wasn't ready to take on an elite-jounin yet.

"So let's start setting up and if you hear me out, we may have a chance." Naruto continued and the other two reluctantly nodded.

As they went on and about setting up various traps, some obvious and some not so much, a figure with silver hair watched from a small distance away, smiling before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

XxxxX

In another part of the village, Kakashi blinked, the only indication that something interrupted him from his reading. He checked the sun, then the nearest clock, glad to see he had about an hour before he should make his appearance.

He had kept true to his word to Naruto. He _had_ been on time. At least a clone of him, which meant part of him. While the teens loitered about he would take his sweet time and appear right on (his) schedule.

They were already showing signs of teamwork, and he was pretty sure that they all were smart enough to notice the lack of a third bell on his waist. It seemed though that he wouldn't have to do much when he arrived. Teamwork was this exercise's purpose after all.

XxxxX

An hour later, an observer could see Kakashi strolling idly towards the training ground that his team-to-be was. If his clone was correct, they should have set traps all around the area right now, not that it would be much of a problem. How complex a trap can a fresh genin make anyway?

Oh, he did have to remind himself of Naruto. That boy was as clever as the devil and nearly as sadistic. He wouldn't be surprised if what waited for him were hidden bear traps.

The clearing he had left his team at seemed clear, with not of his brats in sight. It was highly probable that they were hiding nearby, nothing he couldn't spot with a few seconds of observation.

But, better safe than sorry. Kakashi created a clone and sent him into the clearing, while he observed from a distance. The clone walked in with an orange book in hand, reading without a care in a world. While the fake Kakashi discreetly kept his eye peeled for the genin, he failed to notice a patch of grass in front of him that was slightly bented…

And before the clone could react, a bear trap sprang to action, cutting the clone in half.

Kakashi sweat-dropped, not liking the idea that more things like this could be hidden around there…

XxxxX

"Of course he'd sent a clone in first…" Naruto whispered to himself as he observed the trap activating from a distance, hidden in a couple of bushes. A chameleon genjutsu to blend in with the greenery and by simply rubbing leafs all over his clothes to hide his odor, no one would see him unless he looked really, really carefully at the spot he sat at.

He was an assassin. Camouflage was the first thing he learned.

Traps like that were set all over the field, even though that bear trap was the only one he had in his gear. By slightly burying the stronger ones in the dirt and hiding the springs with fallen leafs, they were invisible to the less experienced in the field.

Sakura and Sasuke were hidden nearby, much easier to spot, but that was on purporse. In the time that Kakashi had given them by being away, they had memorized the position of each trap, a placement that created a path towards him. His teammates would push Kakashi towards him and when the time was right, he'd charge for the bells.

It would be much easier to just kill the man, but that wouldn't sit well with most of Konoha…

Kakashi, ever the careful man, decided to step inside the clearing, accompanied by two clones who copied his every move. With the other two, he could easily handle, but there was little toying with Naruto.

As all three of them took out an orange book, they started trekking around the area, their eye searching for any obvious trap. One of the clones wasn't as lucky though, as he stepped into one and the ground gave underneath him, falling in a pit of kunai.

The jounin decided that using clones to sniff out all the traps would take too much chakra, so he do the next handiest thing. Grabbed a handful of paper bombs and tossed them randomly in front of him. The clone did the same.

As the minor explosions went off, Kakashi could then easily see the various traps, some simple and some more intricate, that where sprang from the force of the explosion. The traps seemed to form a path towards a patch of bushes. Kakashi took out a kunai and threw it towards them.

Naruto didn't move an inch as the kunai flew right beside his cheek, cutting it slightly, a wound that healed even before any blood could flow out. The man seemed satisfied, thinking no one was there in the end. The moment he looked away Naruto made a signal.

Sakura popped from the trees, rushing Kakashi with her full speed, not a formidable sight, but still, the man was well aware that he was being baited in this time. Knowing that she was in no real danger, they had agreed for the weakest fighter in the team to be the bait.

Kakashi easily avoid her punch and was prepared to chop her at the neck, to rend her unconscious, but just as he was about to do that the ground behind him erupted and Sasuke popped up, extending his hands for the bells. Kakashi avoided him in the last moment and swiftly kicked him in the stomach, making the boy poof in a cloud of smoke.

'_Kage-bunshin and Earth Burial techniques?'_ It was very unlikely that Sasuke, a genin limited to the academicals and clan techniques, could use jutsus of this caliber.

And he was quite right, as from behind him once again, a giant fireball the height of a tree came rushing for him. Deciding that jumping away was probably what they wanted, he decided to take another course.

As the flames washed over the spot that the man had been, Sakura slowly approached to inspect the place. Nothing but scorched grass had remained.

"Did we really kill him?" she was smart enough to know that a jounin couldn't be taken out by such a frontal attack, but still…

"Sakura! Get out of there!" Sasuke yelled, but it was too late as Kakashi's hand sprang from the ground.

Within a matter of seconds, Sakura was buried to the neck inside the ground, with Kakashi smiling atop her. Something that bewildered him was that Naruto hadn't made an appearance yet. But that was to be expected from an assassin. He would only strike when the moment was right.

Sasuke sweated as he couldn't use his fireballs to push Kakashi towards the bushes now. Sakura would have her head burned off if he did. So he decided on the next best thing.

He drew out numerous kunai and shuriken, knowing that Kakashi wouldn't parry, afraid that a knocked-away blade would harm Sakura. With precision aiming he shot them at the jounin's feet, making him jump backwards, as was intended.

As Kakashi entered Naruto's range, Sasuke smirked, and the man immediately knew that something was up. Only Sasuke though, who was staring at the blonde's position, saw the small blur of movement that vanished the next second. If he had blinked, he wouldn't have seen it.

Kakashi turned with a kunai in hand, slicing at Naruto's position. The boy parried with a blade of his own. The illusion dropped and a grinning blond seemed to appear out of nowhere, kneeling in front of the jounin.

"Game-over Kakashi sensei." He said as with his free hand he showed a pair of bells that jingled with the movement. Kakashi smiled as he withdrew his kunai, and then vanished in a cloud of smoke, as did the bells.

Both boys were left astonished, seeing their prize being snatched from right under their noses.

Kakashi then appeared from behind a flock of trees, grinning in his own unique way as he held up the two bells. "Not bad. It was a good try, but time is up." He hid the fact that he hadn't even noticed that Naruto was there until the boy began to move. The small illusion he had placed over the bells won the day.

"Placing genjutsu over the objective? How sly…" Naruto commented dryly, not and the most gracious loser. Sasuke didn't take it well either, huffing.

XxxxX

After they had unearthed Sakura, who was complaining that dust and dirt had gotten all over her clothes and that she was becoming itchy, Kakashi sat all of three of them down in front of the three logs, the trademark of Training ground 7.

"You may have failed the objective, but I must admit, what you threw at me and the way you handled the rules was quite admirable." The three seemed proud with themselves. Well, Naruto pretended to be. He would have much more preferred to just fight the man and take the bells than take the long way and use his team for it.

"There were some flaws though. Sasuke, I noticed that you threw those kunai at me thinking that I wouldn't harm Sakura, and that was a good thought, considering my morals and position. But, and heed this dearly, _never_ trust your enemy. There are plenty of people out there who will out-right slay their friends if that means killing you. Nevertheless, knowing your opponent, you acted accordingly and that is a merit in most situations."

"Sakura, you are pretty much worth nothing more than a bait." The girl's face fell drastically.

"But that is to be expected from a shinobi with no clan. That's why we're going to work you to the bone and drill some skills into that body of yours. Do you feel up to it? Now's the only chance to quit." He said. Sakura seemed to perk up once again, from one sided insulted that her skills were lacking, and on the other side determined to become better and shove those words down the man's throat.

"Good." He nodded at her look. He wouldn't speak much of Naruto. The boy's array of skills was still unknown to him, as the blond had cleverly chosen to hide his powers by staying hidden during most of the fight, choosing to appear only when the moment was right.

Sahana had trained him well.

"You covered for each other where the other one could not. I am well aware that the earth-born Sasuke was a disguised clone of Naruto, a good distraction so Sasuke could pull a fireball off. You protected Sakura using my weakness, the fact that I could not seriously harm her, to get me away from her and towards Naruto, who sprang for the bells.

It was teamwork worth of admiration and I only hope that more like you will come forth to serve the Leaf. Congratulations. You pass."

Naruto, ever the maestro of pretending, cheered along with Sakura, as Sasuke simply smirked, not finding strange that his superiority was acknowledged.

"You failed the objective, but you did not fail each other. Remember kids; those who abandon their mission are scum. But those who abandon their comrades are even worse than scum. The Will of Fire is strong with you three." All three genin grinned or smirked respectively at their new teacher, but Kakashi couldn't miss the feeling of anxiety that Naruto's pose gave off.

"Is there a question, Naruto?" he asked helpfully. The blond nodded vigorously.

"Can we go now sensei? I'm really hungry!" he asked, a question that his teammates quickly lost interest to. When they looked away, he mouthed something that made Kakashi sweat under his mask.

'_Clones don't count. You were late.' _The glint of evil and the promise of suffering that were etched on his features came and went within a second, his team not realizing a thing of the silent monologue.

The man smiled awkwardly, laughing nervously.

"Eheh… yeah, of course, you're all free to go. We'll begin our missions as a team tomorrow. Be prepared!" and with that he was gone in a swirl of leafs, not wanting to stay close to Naruto for more than what was necessary.

The blond smiled satisfactorily.

"So, who's coming with me for lunch?" he asked, and when neither of his teammates answered, a frown was put on his face.

"I have better things to do dobe. See ya." Sasuke turned to walk away, but was quickly intercepted by Naruto grabbing him by the collar and dragging him along, Sakura remaining stunned and unsure of what to do.

"The hell? What do you think you're…"

"Oh shut up and play along! We're a team remember? Also, eating something alongside us won't kill you." Naruto answered cheerfully.

"At least not now." He added with a smirk.

Sasuke stood on his feet and yanked himself free of Naruto's grasp.

"I never asked for teammates. Whatever Kakashi says, I know that they'll only drag me down." He said and prepared to leave once more. But Naruto's smirk was unyielding.

"Oh? The great Uchiha is afraid then?" he mocked, something that seemed to hit right in a sore spot.

Sasuke twitched. "You're calling me a coward, dobe?" he shot back. It was Naruto's turn to have his eye twitching. If he was perfectly honest with himself, he barely resisted the desire to rip this guy's throat out, something he could have easily done, but he had to remind himself that he would not be working alone in the coming times.

Sometimes, he hated his job.

"Afraid that I can beat him in an eating contest! Come on Sasuke, show me what you got!" he challenged, but instead of a fiery stare, the Uchiha simply sighed, before silently conceding to his teammate's demands. Naruto's face split in a grin, and Sakura followed the two boys, eyes glued on her object of affection.

Watching from a tree not too far away, Naruto smirked to himself. He checked the clock one last time, before sprinting towards the village gates.

XxxxX

Kakashi could say that he was amazed. His new… student, was one full of surprises. He didn't even understand why a black-op Anbu would join a genin team, but the Hokage seemed to have some peculiar expectations of the young jinchuuriki.

The amounts of chakra this kid had was crazy. Mid-way through the confusion of battle, Naruto had created a shadow clone packed with a lot of chakra, so much that Kakashi's sharingan was itching behind his bandana. What purpose that clone served hit him later, when he caught a glimpse of the real Naruto jumping in the trees. It seemed that his new student also had a mission to attend to, so he created a durable clone to replace him for now.

It was the first time that Kakashi had seen a shadow clone that could take more than one hit, let alone survive away from his summoner for long periods of time. This trick probably involved more than just simple chakra condensing.

As he walked the streets of Konoha, reading his favorite book, his eye couldn't help but spot the striking white among the dull colors of Konoha. Upon better inpection, Hiashi, the leader of the Hyuuga, seemed to have taken a stroll too.

At his sides were two guards, along with a young girl that Kakashi remembered as the man's eldest daughter. What business could he have outside the compound that would require escort?

Shrugging to himself, Kakashi decided that he shouldn't be one to care. He continued towards his apartment, book in hand and giggling like a girl at what he read.

XxxxX

The weather was good and the temperature was normal. Traveling in such conditions wouldn't be much trouble.

Naruto placed aside the fake bark and retrieved his back-back from the hollow log, then placed the bark back in its place. Knowing how to hide your possessions was essential for when you travelled alone. Plus it saved him time from having to run back to his apartment.

Looking behind him, Konoha was still visible, no more than a mile away. He turned around and without hesitation, jumped into the woods and began his travel to the capital.

He recapped the information he had about his target. A middle-aged woman with no shinobi or samurai skills would be an easy target in a one on one battle if it came down to that, but the problem wouldn't be the target himself.

His target was a high-ranking diplomat of Fire Country. She was certainly well guarded by experienced soldiers. It was well-known that the Daimyo's palace was protected by hardened soldiers and veterans, some shinobi from Konoha and some samurai. There would be no back-up to help him take out the target. There would be no retribution if he was caught. He could leave no traces, not even the thought that she had been assassinated. He had to get in, finish the job, and get out before he was seen by anyone and anything. Simple genjutsu and transformations could easily fool civilians and sloppy guards, but one misstep and he was done for. If anyone saw his face, he would either have to kill himself or go rogue.

Missions such as these were the most dangerous. Danger was something that excited him but also something he loathed. He could not afford to die on such a mission. He had much to do with his life yet.

It always irritated him, the fact that he couldn't just butcher everyone and call it a day. Sahana had drilled into him that finishing your target and your target only is what gets the job done. Other casualties should be avoided.

As he neared the capital, which wasn't more than a few hours travel from Konoha, he couldn't help but wonder if a mass murder could pass as a lunatic incident. Surely it would make his job that far easier, but then again, where was the fun and anticipation if you just maimed your opponent?

Time passed quickly as he pondered on the methods he should use on this mission. He knew he was going solo in this one and needed to be extra careful, but first of all, he had to get close to his target, to observe him.

XxxxX

The capital of Fire Country was a lively center of civilization. Tall buildings, shops of every kind and hoards of people littered the streets. He had visited this place many times, mostly with Hiashi on his diplomatic errands. Now that Naruto thought about it, only Hiashi, the Hokage and Sahana knew that he was an undercover assassin. It kind of made him feel better, but also a little saddened, that he wasn't more famous.

Then again, being famous wasn't a good thing in his line of work.

He could utilize his past experience of this city. Knowing where to go and when could help him a lot. But first of all, he needed to make contact with his target, to slip in somehow. He had at most a day or two to finish this job, the reason mostly being the fact that he had an annoying team back in Konoha. For one more time he cursed the Hokage for that stupid idea. How was he supposed to keep such a double life up? If his team ever learned about what he did without being allowed by the Hokage to know, their leader knew that Naruto would be inclined to kill them.

He didn't like killing his own people, as much as they annoyed him.

Putting those thoughts aside for now though, he walked towards the capital's center, were all officials gathered. The Grand Hall was what they named it? Something like the Hokage tower for the capitol, he thought.

As he neared he noticed how the guards, most of them samurai, thickened. Something was up for so many men to be on patrol. Usually the security wasn't this tight. Since the Daimyos and the Hokage's were different political parties, it was very rare and very un-honorable for a foreign shinobi village to target another nation's Daimyo.

He decided that pondering about it on his own wouldn't give much info.

He approached one of the vendors, one that he and Hiashi had visited many a times at their stays here. The Hyuuga clan head was a large tea lover, but he would never openly admit it in such a rough way.

"Hey! Ojii-san! Gonbanwa!" he greeted the man as he entered the shop, a small traditional café, famous for its' great variety in teas.

The man looked up from the counter, his eyes gleaming with recognition at the whiskered face before him. He smiled broadly.

"Well, well, if it isn't Naruto! How rare to see you here without Hiashi-sama! Travelling on your own? Come, come! I have your favorite blend of tea as today's special!" the man seemed obviously overjoyed. He never hid that he liked the blond boy, not even in front of the serious and stoic Hiashi. He would often chat with the boy about his business, the rare tea that sometimes got its way in his shop, or the odds and wonders of the capital.

Naruto looked at the clock at the far wall of the shop, stationed above a table. He could spare a few minutes for a cup of tea. A refreshment was always welcome after hours of travelling.

As he sat down on a stool in front of the small bar, the man immediately started preparing the tea Naruto favored. The man's name was Fukuma, a traveler in his younger days and now a café owner. Naruto only now noticed, but the customers in the shop were far fewer than usual.

They began chatting about trivial things. The boy, in an overly dramatic and energetic fashion, described his new team and his 'promotion' to the genin rank. Fukuma himself had a few things to say about the people that visited his shop and couldn't help but complain about the rise in prices here in the capital.

"Ne, so, jii-san, why so few customers today? Something's up?" he asked innocently. The man knew nothing about Naruto's real occupation. He never had to know.

Fukuma sighed heavily, a sad look covering his eyes.

"Rumors, my boy, rumors. They seem to escalate quite eloquently." He said.

Naruto sipped his tea "What kind of rumors?"

The man gazed outside his shop. The crowd was lessening more and more.

"I don't know much myself. Someone informed the Daimyo of a threat, an assassin, is what the rumors say. Some foreign country seems to be targeting our leader, for what purpose, I couldn't imagine. That's why the area around the palace is heavily guarded, you've probably noticed the guards. The people are afraid, so not many walk around here and I can't blame them. Even fewer are in the streets at night, and it hurts my business. Well, even though the Daimyo is a distinguished figure…"

As Fukuma rumbled on and on, Naruto's gaze had darkened, but he tried not to show it. His mind ran with the complications that this revelation could bring to his mission. If the Daimyo was informed of a threat, he would be extra careful with who and why entered the palace. That would make his job that much harder. There were many things he needed to prepare and not quite enough time.

A few more minutes passed and after some pleasantries, Naruto left, a dark expression on his features, not that Fukuma noticed.

The plan would get a little more complicated, but it was nothing he couldn't handle.

XxxxX

"Is that all?" the feminine voice said, writing down on a sheet of paper. The man at the doorway nodded.

"Yes, my lady." He said courtly.

"Very well. You can leave now." She said, not sparing him a glance. The man bowed and closed the door behind him, leaving the woman alone. She sighed over the new stack of papers the man had brought. With the daimyo doubling the guards, she had even more work to look over with the numerous reports that came in.

And if only there was anything interesting. Most of the guards reported nothing or trivial things, while others exaggerated about even more foolish things. She sometimes wondered if these men could actually protect the palace efficiently.

So immersed in her thoughts she was that she never turned around, towards the window. Two crimson orbs stared through the darkness, like the eyes of a wolf stalking his prey.

The figure was upside down, examining the interior of the room thoroughly. It wasn't as plain as he had imagined it to be, but then again, this was a woman. A rich woman.

He could wait. He was patient. There was no haste in his posture or gaze, just cold calculation. There were many ways he could fulfill his mission here and now, but all would point towards an assassination way to easily. Poison after-effects were easy to recognize, wounds even more. He needed the right time and place, and to figure that out, he needed her schedule.

As if on queue, the woman took something from within the drawer of her desk, a small book by the looks of it, with a leather cover. She opened it up and began checking off something, then writing something else, turning some pages and muttering to herself.

A few hours passed and it was well beyond midnight when the woman decided it was time for rest. She undressed completely, a voluptuous figure, well matured and healthy, but the crimson gaze was unimpressed, unrelenting. He was well used to spying on female targets, clothed or not. Such trivial animosities wouldn't affect his mission.

The woman slid her silky nightgown over her figure, which complimented her curves quite well, probably something that she would wear in front of a lover, and went to her bed, sighing and turning off the lights. The figure waited for about an hour and a half more before silently opening the window.

With his eyes, Naruto could see in the darkness very well. Day or night made no difference to him. He checked the rhythm of her hearing and the beating of her heart, finding out that she was in quite the deep sleep. He was lucky that his target this time was a heavy sleeper.

A small gust of wind ruffled his clothes and the few strands of hair that hang out of his cowl, but he paid it no attention. He stepped towards the drawer, opening it without a sound, as if the wood was sliding on water. The book was certainly there, and as he saw now there was a small lock on it.

Looking around for the key would take too much time. He had to get out of here before the patrols came this way, which would be in about five minutes, otherwise, he would have to wait till sunrise for the patrols to shift again. He could not risk that.

Reaching into one of his pockets, he took out a small item that looked like a key. It was too large to fit into that tiny hole, but with a few tweaks the master-key was modified to fit. It was a very special item, able to unlock almost any common lock.

The lock made a small sound as it opened, but other than that only the wind played its music tonight. He carefully opened the small book, able to easily read its contents even in this darkness with his enhanced eyes.

What he saw shocked him. Sure enough this was indeed a schedule, but what the schedules were was what was immensely interesting. He flipped through more pages. Some of the daily activities were quite normal for the consort of a Daimyo, and the woman had even written down notes for herself. Some of the pages made this book look like a small diary, and that was good for him. Knowing more about his target could help immensely.

Two more minutes until a patrol arrived. With his gloved hand he gently closed the book, locked it with his key and set it exactly where he took it from. Closing the drawer silently, he stepped towards the window, got out and closed it. If someone ever said that a ghost stepped in there, he would probably be right, because there were no traces left.

Just as the patrol neared under him, he jumped away towards the far wall, climbing onto the roof of the nearby building. The palace was large and patrols were even stationed on the roofs, seeing as ninjas could easily sneak on them. Fifty meters away he saw a roof patrol approaching and cast a chameleon genjutsu on himself. In a windy night such as this he would be as silent as the grave, and because of the lack of light, they would never notice his outline, the only fault of this genjutsu.

As he escaped into the city and without a soul having seen him, his red eyes glimmered with excitement. At first he thought that this would be a normal assassination, but his target had given him more than enough fun to look forward to.

He would take extra pleasure in terminating her.

XxxxX

"Candidates at the front! Le front!" the head chef commanded and five males, three of them teens, made a row before him. He examined each of them carefully, before nodding to himself.

"So, you bunch of nobodies want to cook for our esteemed Daimyo and his court?" he asked with his nose held high, but his eyes watched the candidates like a hawk.

"Sir! Yes sir!" they all answered.

"This is not a boot camp you insolent fools! Food, when you prepare it, needs love! Lots of love! Ai I tell you! The ingredients need to be handled with care, boiled and cooked at the perfect temperature and…" as he rumbled on, one of the candidates, a young boy with short brown hair, sighed silently, something that went unnoticed by the chef.

"_My goodness! Can I help you?" the young man said as he saw an elder fall on the ground. He trembled on the ground, complaining about his back hurting, before trying to pick himself up, cane in hand. The young man helped the elder up, and the silvery gaze of the elder stared at the youngster's face blankly._

"_Thank you my lad, my back is killing me these days. Damn stairs are hard to handle when you're blind you know, hehe…" he said dismissively, patting the stair he tripped on with his cane. The teen grinned awkwardly, not sure what to do._

_The man sniffed the air._

"_Oh, a cook? And at such a young age! You must be really passionate about it. Hehe…" the elder chuckled again and the teen stared at him in amazement._

"_How did you know?"_

"_Smell, my boy, smell. When you lose one sense, your other senses grow stronger. And there's the smell of ingredients and food all over you. Hehe…" he stroke his long silvery beard._

"_You seem to be a high-level cook. Do you work for the Daimyo my lad?" he asked. The boy blushed._

"_Not… not really. Umm… It's just… there's an audition today, the Daimyo wants to get a new cook for the upcoming event. Some important people are visiting and he wants more people to help in the kitchen, or so I heard…" he said with embarrassment. The old man chuckled again._

"_Quite an aspiration you have my lad. Hehe… care to walk with me for a few minutes? Come, let's chat a little, spare this old man a few minutes of your life. I find young people to be quite interesting, full of dreams and hope." He sighed. The boy looked at his clock, and seeing that he still had time, he decided to give this old guy some company. He seemed quite nice anyhow._

_They walked towards the direction of the palace for a few minutes, chatting idly about life, the ups and downs of it. The blind man then took a sudden turn towards an alley, just before the main road._

"_I think the turn is right here…" before the boy could correct him, the old man fell once again into the darkness. The teen hesitated a second, hoping that the elder was fine. The grunts and mumbled curses of the man relieved him._

"_Are you alright, jii-san?" he asked._

"_Ahh, my back! I'd be obliged if you lend me a hand to get up, lad!" he heard the man say and with a sigh, he entered the alley._

"_Thank you, thank you…" he said as he was assisted to stand. _

"_Say, lad, I need a small favor." He said suddenly, with the same friendly tone he had been talking with this whole time._

_The teen didn't think it suspicious in the least._

"_Sure, what would you like gramps?" he asked with a small smile, even though the man couldn't see it._

_Or so he assumed._

"_Sleep here for a few hours, it would serve me very well."_

"_Wha…? What are… you… talkgh… gramps…" his leads grew heavy and he was snoring within seconds. The old man chuckled, then henged himself into the boy's form._

"_Damn that took too long. I hate that this genjutsu doesn't work with agitated opponents and you have to soften them up first." What was special about this technique was that the boy wouldn't remember this alley incident when he woke up. Nor the kind, blind grampa._

_Naruto checked the victims pockets and he easily found what he sought. The invitation. That could get him inside without suspicion. He also checked the teen's identity._

_Shiroyasha Takanagi. Quite the long name._

Naruto sighed once again. He was good at cooking, since Sahana wasn't a big fan of it and he usually had to make something other than ramen to survive. His mother didn't seem to share his love for the particular food, so he was forced to make different dishes.

The head chef tested their abilities by making them make simple dishes. The most tasty one would win. Naruto wasn't at all worried, for after all, there weren't any other ninja cooks in the room.

Heh. Ninja cook.

With a small, silent genjutsu on the chefs' sense of taste when it was his turn, his rice omelet became ten times tastier for the man than it actually was. The chef proudly proclaimed him the winner, the others sharing disappointed looks of defeat.

Everything was going smoothly. He had infiltrated the palace and blended in, plus he had access to one of his favorite poisoning targets.

Food.

It was quite easy to poison food. The taste of the food, unlike drinks, could easily cover the poison, no matter its smell and taste.

He recalled the info he had about his target as he cooked a simply dish of rice and fish. Her name was Tenshi Miyako and she was the Daimyo's consort, which meant that she was quite high in the hierarchy, since she only answered to the lord of this place. As she had scheduled, she would take lunch today with a group of esteemed guests. The book didn't specify who they were and from where, but that didn't matter.

The head chef was preparing a soup, and that would be the instrument of tonight's show. Most people, when eating soup, swallowed it quickly and without hesitation. That would make it even easier to poison them before they even noticed it. Plus the chef liked to season his 'creations', as he called them, a lot, so it wouldn't be smell-able either.

It was perfect.

Ten minutes until the meeting would start. The food would arrive around half an hour after the guests had arrived.

"So, Sakama-san, who are these guests anyway?" he asked idly, hoping to make some idle chatter to pass the time, plus hopefully get some info.

"What? You don't know? Of course you wouldn't Shiro-kun, you're a newbie here." The man chuckled, but Naruto paid no heed to his demeaning tone. He could care less whether this man liked him or not.

"They are visitors from Konoha. Serious business I guess. You don't have Hyuuga coming in the palace very often anyhow." He said with a bit of glee, not noticing the frozen apprentice behind him. For a couple of seconds Naruto stared at the boiling rice in front of him, unmoving, and then idly began to stir it, as if nothing was happening.

'_Fuck. Exactly what I need. Great. Just great. Hyuuga? That's surely Hiashi, he's the only one that comes in the capital for business. This makes my job ten times harder. The Byakugan can spot poison if it has entered the victim, poisons tend to disrupt the chakra flow quite vividly. Hmm… unless…' _the chef hadn't noticed, busy chopping carrots and throwing them in his stew, but Naruto's now brown eyes were staring at him with interest.

'_Yes… this can work. I only have to be careful. I don't want to kill my uncle now, do I?' _and feeling far more relieved with the plan he had in mind, he continued to prepare the rice with a small humming flowing from his lips.

XxxxX

"Miyako-sama, it is an honor to see you." Hiashi bowed courtly, as did his followers. The consort returned the bow with a smile on her features. She wore a traditional, yet beautiful red kimono, full of roses and shapes.

"Come on in, Hiashi-dono, we have much to discuss." She urged them inside the room and only when she sat down were they allowed to sit as well. So went the courtesy.

"Quite the beautiful lady accompanies you today, Hiashi-dono. Is she a relative? A servant?" she asked with a small smile, but none of the Hyuuga even flinched. Hiashi's escorts, two men of the side branch, stood attention at the wall behind their leader, unmoving.

"She is my daughter." Hiashi said with a steady tone.

"Oh my, forgive my question, I meant no disrespect, Hyuuga-dono." She made a small bow with her head towards the girl.

"I'm Hyuuga Hinata. A pleasure to meet you." The girl said as she stood up, gave a small bow, and then sat down again, her face not as nearly empty as her father's. A tiny smile was gracing her lips.

Naruto nearly gagged at all the formalities that were exchanged in the room. He could clearly see from the window of the door at their left. How the hell could people be so stiff and… mechanical? He himself had accompanied Hiashi in a few meetings as his aid, but he never admitted to the man that he suffered through them all, if only because of the rigid atmosphere that always hovered in the room.

Anyhow, he would have to be really careful about this one. Hiashi was a master at reading body-language, the slightest mistake could give him away. Even his daughter was with him! Should he mess the plates up, either Hyuuga would die and the mission would be a failure.

The dishes were right in front of him and he only waited for the chef to bring out the last of the food. He had to place the poison now and luckily, it was him that would serve as well. The stew laid exposed before him and in one swift motion, he shed the white liquid that would serve his purpose in one of the plates.

This poison was fast acting. In half a minute after eating it, Miyako would be lying on the floor, suffocating. When a minute had passed, her lungs would burst. It was a painful death, exactly how he wanted it to be.

The problem was that he would have to get out of there quickly. Very quickly. The Hyuuga's Byakugan can see nearly a whole kilometer away, maybe more. He had only a minute to run away. Hiashi would probably recognize him, but that didn't mean that the man could do anything about it. His guards would see too, and if he didn't call on Naruto's presence, he could be accused as well.

The poison had already diluted in the stew. Now came the last, and most critical, part of this plan.

As the chef neared to place the last plate on the tray, Naruto pretended to yawn. He slipped and fell towards the chef, who startled just stood there, watching his 'apprentice' fall.

"Damn it boy, watch your step! You could have ruined the food!" he loudly whispered, not wanting to be heard in the next room. Naruto just rubbed his head in embarrassment.

As the chef turned his attention to the dishes, making sure that they were alright, Naruto took his previous position next to them, already having placed the vial of poison in the man's pockets as he passed by him. That's why he fell. He needed to get behind the chef without him getting conscious of his presence too much.

Maybe the theatre wasn't that much needed. The man seemed entranced by the 'creations' he had before him.

"Great! Everything seems perfect! Come on boy, get in there and serve the guests, along with the mistress. Be extra careful! It's on your head if you mess up!"

Oh how little he knew.

The door opened and he pushed the tray inside, Miyako greeting his entrance with a pleased smile. The Hyuuga only glanced towards him, but Naruto was looking only forward, trying to pretend to be the aspiring new cook that he was supposed to be.

He stopped the tray right next to the table and prepared to serve the first dish, the rice and fish. It was etiquette that he placed all the dishes before the guests, and then he would leave. As he bent over the tray, a strange smell assaulted his nose.

'_I don't remember putting vanilla in the stew… who puts that in stew anyway?' _aside from the idle thought, this was very troubling. The particular dish didn't smell like that before. The one he had poisoned didn't smell at all, the particular poison was a high level and well crafted one. This one, on the other plate, was a very common poison that clumped up the heart and caused a heart attack. It wasn't necessarily lethal, if you acted fast enough.

The chef… it looked like Naruto didn't have to frame the man after all. But how could he have slipped by him? There were no genjutsu involved aside from his own, that he was sure of.

Whatever he did now, Miyako and one of the Hyuuga would die. In the center of attention of the Hyuuga guards and Miyako's men on the other side of the room behind her, he could cast no jutsu, not even mumble them, let alone make seals. Damn it all to hell…

A quarter of an hour had passed as the occupants of the room ate and discussed. Well, only Miyako and Hiashi talked, Hinata would only add a word or two when she was addressed. Many words about business and trade was exchanged, things Naruto didn't care much about. He was more sweating over how he could work this out…

"The next dish, if you please my boy." Miyako said kindly and Naruto steeled his expression, making sure that he didn't seem startled.

"My lady, please excuse my intrusion. My apprentice is needed elsewhere, I shall take care of the rest." The chef suddenly intercepted and inwardly, Naruto's mind was racing. This was his chance. He had only one chance and it could not be wasted. But first, he had to make sure that Miyako ate from her food.

It was etiquette that the patron took the first bite of any dish and then the guests followed. In the mere seconds that it would take for either Hiashi or Hinata to take a sip of their own food, he had to act.

Naruto stepped away and was relieved to see that his dish was placed in front of Miyako. The other poisoned dish was set before Hiashi. It was easy to figure that the clan head would be targeted, not his daughter.

Miyako took a bite from her food.

As Naruto's back was turned to the guests as he 'left', his hands flew through seals, his chakra spiking ever so slightly.

'_Katon: Slithering Inferno' _a small fire technique that created a tiny snake of fire. The snake travelled to the target and erupted in a small explosion of flames. The guards would notice it before it reached Hiashi and would intervene. The poisoned food would be destroyed. Miyako's life was already forfeit.

As the doors closed behind him and the ruckus commenced, he run with all his might towards the nearest exit, intent on getting to the streets and blending with the crowd.

XxxxX

"Father!" Hinata said with fear, all Hyuuga alarmed at the sudden, and quite violent, intrusion. Hiashi's Byakugan was ablaze as he examined the remaining ashes of what was only moments ago a portion of the crumbled table. Miyako was on the other end of the room, fearful and surrounded by her own guards.

"Relax, my daughter. There are only residues of chakra remaining." Which meant that there wasn't any trap set around that peculiar technique. He and his guards checked the surroundings, finding no traps, no hidden enemies. Everything seemed normal.

Aside from the high chakra levels of the chef.

Chakra only a shinobi was ought to have. A strong one at that.

Hiashi was intrigued. Why would Naruto send a fiery snake his way? Yes, it was definitely the boy, since the only people that knew this technique were him and Sahana. How could he not have noticed? It seemed that Naruto was getting even better at disguising himself. If it wasn't for this jutsu, he would have never known the blond boy was here.

Everyone's attention was called elsewhere when Miyako began to cough up blood.

XxxxX

"Damn close." He whispered to himself amidst the crowded streets. Even Hiashi's Byakugan would have a hard time pinpointing him amidst this many chakra signatures. With his cowl over his head and the illusion finally off himself, he began to set his way back to the village. He had been here for two days and the clone would be disappearing any moment now. He could cover it up for a few hours of absence.

'_What should I say in the report? Hm… describing how awesome my espionage was would probably do.' _He thought with a small smile.

XxxxX

Miyako was on the ground within seconds, coughing and struggling to breath. Hiashi's Byakugan instantly recognized the damage as the woman's lungs converged, blocking her breathing.

Acting quickly, he knelt beside her and hit a select number of tenketsu near her lungs, hoping to stop the convulsion. It was in vain though as the lungs closed themselves once again and it was then that Hiashi realized the truth.

Poison.

Had she been Naruto's target? If it was so, then Hiashi could do little to help her. Sahana had taught Naruto a variety of poisonous mixtures that even he was not familiar with. There were a select people in the world that could save her at the moment, and none of them was even close by.

He wasn't sure she should be saved in the first place though. Being targeted by Naruto meant that she was a threat to Konoha, in one way or another. Indirectly, saving her meant betraying his village.

He shook his head. These thoughts were foolish. He was supposed to know nothing about this. Life, no matter its purpose, was precious. So with that he continued trying to save the poor woman with all he had, even though he knew it was in vain. The doctors would never come in time.

"The food! It was poisoned!" said one of his Hyuuga guards. Hiashi turned to the man with a weary glare, torn between leaving Miyako be or to keep trying in vain.

"That is quite obvious, the woman is dying!" he said before turning towards her again.

"No, lord-Hyuuga, your own food was poisoned as well!" he was targeted as well? It couldn't have been Naruto, for Hiashi knew that he hadn't wronged Konoha in any way. But the only other man who had direct access to the food was…

His eyes searched for the chef who had seemed to mystically disappear. Scanning the whole of the palace, he found the man walking calmly through a back door. As he turned to close it, a small, serpentine grin was etched on his features, and a thin, forked tongue lashed out to lick his pale lips as the skin of his face peeled off.

"The chef was an assassin in disguise!" Hiashi cursed silently. What if Hinata had been poisoned by accident? He knew from the start that it would be at least mildly dangerous to take his daughter along, but he had thought that he would be enough protection.

He had trusted in his own strength.

"Todo, with me! Yuri, protect the heir at all costs." He ordered and left in a hurry, as doctors rushed in the room to take care of Miyako, even though it was obviously already too late.

Hiashi exited the palace along with Todo, their Byakugan blazing. The slippery man was only a few rooftops away, they would probably catch up to him if they ran fast enough.

The clan leader was bewildered that the assailant could be this slow. This was bound to be some kind of trap, but he had little choice but to go headfirst into it. His Byakugan would see through any plot…

But he had not expected that.

As the Hyuuga gave chase, their pray suddenly vanished from their sight, just like that. No traces, no footprints, he just vanished in thin air. And then it downed on Hiashi.

"Shadow clone." And with that he began racing back to his daughter, a dreadful feeling piling up in his stomach with every ticking second…

XxxxX

"I'm out of the Byakugan's range. Good." Naruto whispered to himself as he heard the ruckus in the palace from afar. Alarms where sounding and guards where pouring from the palace. In a few minutes this area would be flooded and they would probably discover the poor chef that Naruto had substituted. But that mattered little to him.

"So… will you tell me why you targeted the Hyuuga?" he asked seemingly no one. He didn't get an answer, the only sounds being the busy streets beneath him and the ruckus that came from the palace.

Yet he could feel the presence hiding close to him. How could he not? This adversary was powerful, even if he hid it quite well. Naruto prepared two kunai, one in each hand, in case the man decided to ambush him.

He felt a small spike in chakra, a clear taunt, and then the presence began to move, away from him, away from the palace, vanishing in a few moments as if he never were.

"Sneaky bastard." He could run after him, he could encounter and fight him, but that would be prudent. He would risk the palace guard finding him, and that was something he could not have, regardless of circumstance.

Maybe another day, as a regular shinobi, he would take the head of the bastard that targeted his uncle.

As for now, he simply continued his run away from the crime scene, knowing full well that the report he would give the Hokage would be quite a troubling one.

XxxxX

In the afternoon of the same day, Naruto entered the gates of Konoha amidst a small merchant caravan. As soon as the guards were busy checking the identities of the traders, he had vanished in the nearby shadows. He was glad that he found these merchants along the way, otherwise it would be a little more tiring to sneak back inside.

He was not supposed to be out of the village at all after all.

His mind was occupied with what the circumstances of his mission had been. A second assassin had targeted the Hyuuga head, a very alarming and dangerous fact. As he neared the Hokage tower, he thought over as to how he would tell all this to his Hokage.

As he entered the office, he felt the presences of the hidden ANBU fade away, as was protocol. These guards knew his chakra, and knew even better that should they over hear anything, their heads would be hanging in Ibiki's dungeons.

While making his report, Hiruzen seemed more and more troubled over the facts that were displayed before him.

"I fear…" the Kage began as Naruto finished.

"That this was merely a warning." He said, looking out towards the window, at the village that he had spent his whole life protecting.

Naruto seemed bewildered.

"How is that so, ojii-san? If I had not stopped him, Hiashi-sama would be already dead!"

"Don't you find strange that this man didn't poison all three plates with his own poison, but instead only chose the two that you had not touched, while still knowing that he wouldn't be the one serving them?" Hiruzen spoke as he crossed his hands before his face, setting his elbows on the desk, closing his eyes to concentrate on his next train of thought.

"If he was a simple assassin he wouldn't have taken any chances. This man was obviously skilled, since he knew your purpose and acted accordingly. No, your target would already be dying and both Hiashi and his daughter would receive immediate treatment just to be safe. Even if they had been poisoned they would have probably been saved, and the man knew that. He also knew that you would report all these back to me."

"So, you are saying that he planned all these out? And why warn us? If a country wants a war with us they would have found a more direct way, wouldn't they?" Naruto tried to reason, even though what Sarutobi had said made perfect sense. He didn't like being wrong, even when he clearly knew that he was.

"Indeed. A country would oppose us a little bit more openly. No, this is the workings of a third-party, someone who wishes ill for Konoha. Someone who tries to cripple us little by little before striking the final blow." It was obvious that with the most powerful clan in Konoha disabled and in disarray, the strength of the village would falter gravely.

"The Hyuuga are a clan bound much by tradition. Should Hiashi die right now, Hinata would take his place. The girl might have potential, but she is too young to lead a clan right now, too immature. There aren't many who know such details about the ways of the Hyuuga…" Hiruzen was piecing everything together, and what he was coming to realize was something that made his stomach turn in a very bad way.

"The assassin was a nuke nin from our village?" Naruto seemed to have come to the same conclusion. But Sarutobi was almost sure that he knew exactly who the culprit was, something that unnerved him much.

"Leave now, Naruto. I have preparations to make with what you brought in light." He said simply and the boy was content with that. When Sarutobi ended a conversation, there was no getting anything else out of him. He would have to leave this to the judgment of his elder.

As the boy left, Hiruzen turned back towards the village, thinking of the many possible things to come. But what weighted most on his heart, was what he was going to have to do to protect his village once more, what he would have to sacrifice to ensure its safety once more…

XxxxX

Naruto crashed in the small apartment that he had been renting in Konoha. It was nothing big, but it was quite accommodating, even thought a tad lonely.

"A bath, some ramen for supper and sleep…" the plan seemed quite good and he was more than content to follow it through.

After finishing a much-needed warm bath, he waited for the ramen to boil, sitting in a chair across the counter, watching the boiling water and the steam that frivolously travelled upwards and then vanished.

In those three minutes of waiting time he reminded himself that tomorrow he would have to deal with his team once again. That kind of ruined his good mood, so he decided to forget about it until the time came. The shadow clone had already dispelled a few hours before his arrival and the feedback of memories showed no alarming circumstances.

'_I guess that taking things easy for a little bit won't do any harm…'_ he thought as he realized that being with his team meant easy and boring as fuck jobs were in order. He would have much more time to train, something that appealed to him, and much more time to relax and sleep. He liked to sleep, since many missions in the past had requesting his deprival of it. He had learned to appreciate every moment of shut-eye he could get.

Finally, as the sun set in the horizon and its orange rays bathed the small place he called a bedroom, he focused on random things to help him sleep, like what the texture of ramen was like, the stone-cold face his uncle wore half the time, and how cheerful and open his mother seemed to be despite her profession, or rather, because of her profession.

He hadn't given it much attention, but that Hinata girl was also mimicking the iceberg expression of her father perfectly in that meeting.

"My God… so they do breed!" he whispered to himself as he thought of an army of emotionless Hyuuga-like faces, and then them multiplying to the point that a whole country was compromised only of them and their empty expressions.

He changed sides on his pillow, closed his eyes and tried his best to keep his mind empty. Such trains of thought where quite terrifying.

What would the world come to anyway, if Hyuuga bred like that?

XxxxX


	8. Chapter 8: Temporary Note Chapter

**A/N: **As most of my fellow authors might have already figured, is trying to drop stories that contain excessive violence and/or sexual themes. I find this act of rectification quite intriguing in a bad way for the simple reason that most fan fictions revolve around love and hatred.

What's going to get a very tough purging will surely be battle/love stories, were the two unwanted facts take place the most. This will probably ruin most of the Naruto fanfiction side, since, as RaiderXV pointed out, is a manga that mainly concentrates around violence, even though the original tries to refrain from the extreme side of this sense.

Long story short, we are dealing with a plague that is bound to end some very good stories out there, stories I myself, in the 4 to 5 years I've been an author here, have loved and adored in the hours that I read them, a feeling I think is quite mutual among all who share our passion for writing.

Rise, my fellow authors! Rise and let your voice be heard!

From: Leonineus;

I, along with many, have been writing and posting on your fine site for years now, some of the better examples of up and coming writers out there are now suddenly finding some of the stories we've come to love at risk of being removed without the chance to even rectify our errors.

For some, that means the permanent loss of a story. While I don't have anything that (I believe) violates your terms of use, there are those out there that are never able to recover a story in its original form, this is something I find to be almost worthy of a legal action, as while we cannot claim ownership of a character, the stories are OURS and simply destroying them is something that is inexcusable.

It's quite easy to simply add an MA rating, additional filters or even a simple requirement for a free membership to read the stories presented here, and would cut down on hateful anonymous reviews and posts at the same time, so I have to question as to why such a thing, in all this time, simply wasn't added.

If you're worried about falsification of a registration then have an appropriate disclaimer and then there can be no dispute, you took your steps and the PARENTS didn't monitor their children, if that is even your concern. If it is more of a personal view or desire then please at least let people know and give them a chance to remove a story that you and yours find offensive, most people on the site are actually rather cordial when it comes to such requests.

While I cannot say for sure if this letter will even reach those that may be willing to listen, of if it's more akin to a wide spectrum purge in preparation for something bigger, please understand that you are going to be losing a LARGE number of your writers, and thus your income from a lack of readers if there is not some level of action taken to help with this situation.

For those that may agree with this, please feel free to sign on and send this to the support server, maybe we can get some movement on this.

forum. fanfiction topic/111772/63683250/1/#63698621

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